Early  Recollections 
gf  Dwight  L.  Moodjr 


FARWELL 


HUMUS 


SU8VEV 


JOHN  V.  FARWELL 


EARLY  RECOLLECTIONS 


OF 


DWIGHT  L.  MOODY 


Hon.  JOHN  V.  FARWELL 


THE  WINONA  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
CHICAGO  ILLINOIS 


COPYRIGHT 

1907 
THE  WINONA  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 


PRESS  OF 
MARSH,  AITKEN  &  CURTIS  COMPANY 

CHICAGO 


/U 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

EARLY  RECOLLECTIONS 7 

FIRST  LESSON  IN  PERSONAL  WORK 16 

RESULTS  OF  MISSION  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  WORK  .  20 

NORTHFIELD  INCIDENTS 49 

EARLY  EVANGELISTIC  WORK  IN  ENGLAND — AS  A 

BIBLE  STUDENT 53 

MR.  MOODY  AND  His  Music 62 

REAL  START  OF  Y.  M.  C.  A 65 

THE  MOODY  AND  SANKEY  CONVENTION  ....  68 

MOODY'S  BIBLE  INSTITUTE 74 

MR.  MOODY  THE  PRESENT   DAY  APOSTLE  OF 

CHRISTIAN  UNION 76 

LETTERS  FROM  AND  TO  MR.  MOODY  CONCERN- 
ING His  WORK  IN  ENGLAND 80 

INCIDENTS  IN  ENGLAND 106 

CONCLUSION 189 

MEMORIAL  ADDRESS 192 


Early    Recollections   of  D.   L. 
Moody  and   His    Work 

HON.  JOHN  V.  FARWELL 

I  learned  some  facts  from  Mr.  Edward  Kimball, 
who  was  the  means  of  Mr.  Moody's  conversion 
when  a  boy,  after  leaving  home  for  Boston  to  enter 
his  uncle's  store,  with  very  little  knowledge  of  the 
Bible.  In  one  of  the  Sunday  School  lessons, 
Moses  was  the  subject  and  when  Mr.  Kimball  had 
ended  his  remarks,  the  boy  said,  "That  Moses 
must  have  been  what  we  call  a  smart  man." 
After  his  conversion  he  applied  for  membership 
in  Dr.  Kirk's  Church  and  was  refused  because  of 
his  limited  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures.  He  per- 
sisted however  and  was  finally  admitted.  This 
experience  must  have  been  a  wonderful  stimulant 
to  Mr.  Moody  for  Bible  study  ever  afterwards. 
It  was  my  privilege  to  hear  Dr.  Kirk  preach  for 
Mr.  Moody  in  his  Illinois  Street  Church  some 
ten  years  afterwards. 

My  first  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Moody  was  as 

a  young  man,  and  a  late  attendant  of  a  nine  o'clock 

morning  class  meeting  in  the  old  Clark  Street  M.- 

E.  Church — coming  in  a  little  before  ten  o'clock. 

7 


8  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

The  recollection  that  I  then  thought  him  a  very 
lazy  Christian  haunts  me  still,  for  I  ascertained 
afterwards,  that  he  came  in  after  spending  all  the 
morning  in  getting  poor  children  into  a  Mission 
Sunday  School,  while  I  was  only  attending  because 
it  was  one  of  the  rules  of  the  church,  and  not  to 
get  spiritual  motive  power  for  Mission  work  for 
Christ  as  he  did. 

Any  description  of  Mr.  Moody's  work,  now 
that  he  has  gone  from  us,  should  begin  where  he 
began,  and  then  the  most  skilful  observer  will  fail 
to  enumerate  in  detail,  the  smallest  fraction  of  his 
persistent  efforts  to  make  himself  useful  to  his 
fellow  men,  as  a  Christian  leader. 

Mr.  Moody  was  an  eminent  success,  first  as  a 
Sunday  School  drummer  or  solicitor,  for  a  South 
Side  Mission  School,  as  above  stated,  until  his 
recruits  were  so  many  that  they  could  not  be  ac- 
commodated. 

The  next  epoch  of  my  recollections  begins  with 
the  North  Market  Hall  Mission  Sunday  School,  in 
myself  and  others  being  invited  to  assist  with  five 
minute  talks  to  a  rabble  of  ragged  children  gath- 
ered by  Mr.  Moody,  who  were  repeatedly  only 
sufficiently  quieted  to  listen,  by  gentle  music,  al- 
ways needed  at  the  end  of  the  five  minute  talks,  to 
quiet  the  boisterous  ways  of  this  gentile  sea  of 
juvenile  humanity.  It  took  three  months  of  such 
work  of  music  and  speech  combined,  to  prepare 
the  children  for  classes,  which  were  then  formed. 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  9 

The  school  grew  apace.  At  Mr.  Lincoln's  first 
visit  to  Chicago,  after  his  first  election,  he  was  an 
invited  guest  of  this  school,  then  grown  to  fifteen 
hundred  children,  on  the  agreement  that  he  was 
not  to  be  asked  for  a  speech.  He  left  a  dinner 
party  of  political  friends  to  meet  this  previous  en- 
gagement. As  he  was  about  to  leave  Mr.  Moody 
remarked  to  the  school,  "If  Mr.  Lincoln  desires 
to  say  a  word,  as  he  goes  out,  of  course  all  ears  will 
be  open."  As  he  reached  the  center  of  the  hall — 
evidently  to  go  without  saying  a  word — he  sud- 
denly stopped,  and  made  a  most  appropriate 
Sunday  School  address,  in  which  he  referred  to 
his  own  humble  origin,  and  closed  by  saying, 
1  'With  close  attention  to  your  teachers,  and  hard 
work  to  put  into  practice  what  you  learn  from 
them,  some  one  of  you  may  also  become  president 
of  the  United  States  in  due  time  like  myself,  as 
you  have  had  better  opportunities  than  I  had." 
When  the  war  broke  out  and  his  call  for  75,000 
volunteers  was  made,  there  were  75  young  men 
(scholars  and  teachers)  who  responded  from  this 
school.  No  one  of  these  became  president,  but 
one  of  them  was  appointed  postmaster  of  Chicago 
after  the  war  was  over  and  filled  the  place  to 
perfection. 

As  one  of  the  means  of  recruiting  scholars  for 
this  school,  Mr.  Moody  at  one  time  promised  a 
Christmas  suit  to  a  dozen  of  the  worst  street  boys, 
if  they  would  attend  every  session  until  Christmas. 


io  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

He  had  them  photographed  as  they  were  found 
on  the  street,  and  as  they  appeared  in  the  Sunday 
School  class  after  having  obtained  the  suits — only 
two  failing  to  meet  the  conditions.  The  first 
picture  was  underscored,  "Will  it  pay?"  and  the 
second,  "It  does  pay."  As  the  teacher  of  this 
class,  I  named  it  "Moody's  body  guard."  One 
day  the  worst  of  these  boys  came  in  and  took  his 
seat  with  his  hat  on,  and  instantly  another  planted 
a  stunning  blow  on  his  face,  sprawling  him  on  the 
floor,  with  the  remark, '  Til  teach  you  not  to  enter 
Moody 's  Sunday  School  with  your  hat  on."  This 
incident  illustrates  the  character  of  these  boys. 
The  etiquette  of  good  hat  manners  was  thereafter 
fully  maintained.  Thus  this  means  used  by  him, 
was  fully  illustrated  and  lives  to-day  in  these 
pictures. 

About  twenty  years  after  this  incident, '  'Charley 
Morton,"  entered  a  railroad  office  to  get  a  ticket 
as  state  secretary  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  while  holding 
evangelistic  meetings  all  over  the  state.  He  was 
asked  to  come  inside,  the  manager  saying,  '  'You 
do  not  seem  to  know  me,"  "I  have  not  that 
pleasure,"  said  Charley.  "Well,"  said  the  agent, 
"do  you  remember  Moody's  body  guard?" 
'  'Very  well  indeed,  and  I  have  their  picture  in  my 
drawing  room."  '  'Well,  when  you  go  home,  pick 
out  the  worst  looking  one  in  the  lot,  and  you  will 
see  your  humble  servant,  now  a  church  member 
and  a  Sunday  School  worker,  by  heredity  from 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  1 1 

Mr.  Moody's  school,  and  I  assure  you  I  never 
gave  a  pass  with  such  sincere  pleasure  as  I  give 
you  this."  //  did  pay. 

Returning  from  a  little  house  prayer  meeting 
one  Saturday  night,  in  a  fearful  storm,  Mr.  Moody 
took  shelter  under  a  wooden  shed,  where  a  flash 
of  lightning  revealed  another  occupant — a  truant 
scholar  from  his  school.  Thus  God  works  for 
men  who  work  for  him.  A  colloquy  followed, 
which  revealed  that  his  father  had  punished  him 
severely  for  attending  his  Sunday  School.  Mr. 
Moody  arranged  that  he  should  call  Sunday  morn- 
ing and  talk  with  his  father.  He  found  the  old 
man  waiting  for  him,  who  began  the  conference 
with — "What  do  you  believe?"  Mr.  Moody  an- 
swered, "I  believe  that  unless  a  man  believes  in 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  with  all  his  heart,  he  will  go 
to  hell."  The  old  man  could  not  indict  this  creed, 
and  the  result  was,  after  a  loving  conference,  that 
the  truant  boy  was  back  to  Sunday  School  that 
day,  and  a  firm  friend  and  supporter  of  the  school. 
He  was  one  of  the  volunteers  from  this  school  under 
Lincoln's  call  for  75,000  troops.  He  maintained 
a  Bible  class  with  his  company,  and  at  one  time 
was  in  command  of  a  division  at  Franklin,  where 
many  were  killed  or  disabled.  It  was  this  man 
that  was  made  postmaster  of  Chicago  after  the 
war,  and  was  elected  commander  in  chief  of  the 
G.  A.  R.  After  above  colloquy,  he  attended  the 
prayer  meeting  of  Moody's  Sunday  School  in  a 


12  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

vacant  saloon  and  there  became  a  Christian — the 
whippings  then  began  again.  He  asked  Mr. 
Moody  what  to  do  about  it,  and  was  told  that  he 
now  had  another  father,  and  must  ask  him  what  to 
do.  On  his  way  home  he  prayed  earnestly,  for 
direction,  and  found  on  arrival  that  another  whip- 
ping was  in  store  for  him,  and  he  then  said, 
1  'Father  I  would  not  whip  you  for  the  world,  as 
you  have  always  been  very  kind  to  me,  until 
whiskey  got  control  of  you,  and  now  I  propose  to 
whip  whiskey,  as  you  are  controlled  by  that."  He 
did  so,  and  ever  after  that  he  was  unmolested  in 
his  religious  duties. 

When  he  was  elected  Captain  of  one  of  the 
Board  of  Trade  regiment's  companies,  the  ad- 
jutant general  informed  him  that  no  18  year 
old  boy  could  command  a  company.  The 
captain  and  his  company  protested  so  strongly, 
that  the  general  said  to  him,  f  'Who  do  you  know 
in  Chicago?"  ' ' J.  V.  Farwell  and  D.  L.  Moody," 
— (I  happened  to  know  him  intimately,  as  a  lawyer 
for  my  firm)  and  he  said — '  'You  get  a  letter  from 
Mr.  Farwell,  and  perhaps  I  won't  ask  how  old 
you  are."  He  got  the  letter,  and  the  adjutant  de- 
cided that  a  boy  who  could  whip  whiskey  to 
maintain  a  consistent  warfare  with  Satan,  could 
command  a  company  of  Union  soldiers  to  put 
down  a  slaveholders'  rebellion. 

There  were  many  poor  families  who  resented 
Mr.  Moody's  efforts  to  get  their  children  into  his 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  13 

Sunday  School.  It  would  be  a  very  long  story 
and  so  I  will  only  give  a  few  incidents  of  results. 

An  older  brother  in  this  Catholic  family  was  in 
the  South  when  the  war  broke  out,  and  on  hearing 
of  Mr.  Moody's  work  in  his  family,  in  making  his 
brother  a  Christian  and  a  Union  soldier,  wrote 
home  that  he  would  whip  Moody  within  an  inch 
of  his  life  on  his  return  home.  In  due  time  he  was 
home,  and  down  with  typhoid  fever.  Mr.  Moody 
helped  to  nurse  him  out  of  unconsciousness  to 
recognize  a  smiling  nurse,  and  then  the  sick  big 
brother  inquired  who  that  man  was  who  had 
nursed  him  back  to  life.  This  inquiry  was  made 
of  the  younger  brother,  converted  in  Moody's 
saloon  prayer  meetings,  who  answered,  *  'That  is 
Mr.  Moody."  Like  Saul  of  Tarsus  he  was  trans- 
formed from  a  persecutor,  into  one  of  Mr.  Moody's 
firm  friends  ever  after  that.  The  two  brothers 
then  agreed  to  go  together  to  the  Catholic  church 
and  to  Moody's  meetings,  and  see  which  was  most 
instructive  and  practical  for  their  benefit.  The 
first  meeting  and  colloquy  was  at  the  Catholic 
Church,  where  mass  was  celebrated  in  Latin. 
The  older  brother  fell  asleep,  the  Christian  brother 
awakened  him,  saying — "Did  we  not  come  to 
listen  and  find  out  for  ourselves  which  service 
was  best  adapted  for  our  instruction?" 

The  Christian  boy  had  no  more  objections  from 
his  big  brother  against  Moody's  methods  of  teach- 
ing men  the  way  of  personal  salvation  in  personal 


14  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

work  for  Christ  as  their  Savior.  The  Latin  serv- 
ice was  too  much  for  his  practical  good  sense, 
against  such  a  man  as  Moody  was  to  him. 

There  are  times  when  one's  legs  are  his  best 
preservers,  and  Mr.  Moody  acted  out  this,  when 
a  Catholic  deputy  sheriff,  who  knew  of  his  work 
among  the  Catholic  poor,  and  hated  him  for  it, 
started  for  him  with  an  ugly  looking  uplifted  cane, 
but  Mr.  Moody  outran  the  would-be  disturber  of 
the  peace  and  reached  a  place  of  safety. 

On  one  of  his  recruiting  trips,  Mr.  Moody  came 
to  a  house,  where  he  saw  not  only  children,  but  a 
jug  of  whiskey.  He  took  both  out  of  the  house, 
the  children  to  his  school,  and  the  jug  of  whiskey 
to  sprinkle  the  streets  with.  The  next  Sunday  he 
was  in  the  same  house  for  the  same  purpose,  and 
found  the  man  (or  rather  semblance  of  a  man) 
waiting  for  him.  Having  confessed  to  demolish- 
ing the  whiskey  jug,  the  man  removed  his  coat, 
while  Mr.  Moody  said,  '  'I  broke  the  jug  for  the 
good  of  yourself  and  family,  and  if  I  am  to  be 
thrashed  for  it,  let  me  pray  for  you  all  before  you 
do  it,"  and  suiting  his  action  to  his  words,  kneeled 
and  prayed  for  father,  mother  and  the  children, 
as  only  Moody  could  pray  under  such  circum- 
stances, and  when  he  arose  from  his  knees,  it  was 
to  take  the  children  to  his  school,  instead  of  taking 
a  whipping. 

A  personal  appeal  for  an  immediate  decision 
after  presenting  the  facts  of  Christ's  office  and  work 


Early  Recollections  oj  Moody  15 

was  one  of  his  effective  methods  in  Christian 
work. 

SOME  OF  His  METHODS  AT  THAT  TIME 

On  leaving  his  home  one  morning,  his  wife  re- 
quested him  to  send  her  a  barrel  of  flour.  On  his 
way  to  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  he  met  a  person  he  was 
greatly  interested  in,  and  was  so  earnest  and  per- 
sistent in  an  appeal  to  him  to  be  a  Christian,  that 
he  forgot  the  flour  until  he  reached  the  door,  to 
apologize  to  his  wife  for  his  neglect,  who  answered, 
"You  did  not  forget,  the  flour  came  about  three 
o'clock."  Truly  his  barrel  of  meal  was  kept  full 
that  he  might  save  a  soul  from  death. 

On  another  occasion  he  overtook  a  man  on 
Clark  Street  bridge,  a  stranger  to  him — and  asked 
if  he  was  a  Christian.  The  fact  that  the  man 
knew  Moody,  saved  him  from  a  severe  castiga- 
tion,  for  on  his  arrival  at  the  Board  of  Trade,  he 
told  the  then  president  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  to  tell 
his  friend  to  be  more  discreet  in  the  future,  for  if 
he  had  not  known  him  as  a  non-combatant,  he 
should  have  chastised  him  for  his  impertinence. 

Moody  was  thus  admonished  some  weeks  after, 
and  on  asking  and  learning  from  the  president  who 
it  was,  said,  "If  you  had  been  at  the  last  prayer 
meeting  of  our  church,  you  would  have  heard  his 
confession  of  faith,  with  this  incident  which  you 
complain  of,  as  the  means  used  for  his  conversion." 


FIRST  LESSON  IN  PERSONAL  WORK 

FROM  A  TEACHER  IN  His  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

One  of  Mr.  Moody's  teachers  in  the  North 
Market  Hall  Sunday  School,  who  had  a  large 
class  of  girls  from  12  to  1 6  years  old,  and  who  had 
consumption,  and  was  about  to  go  home  to  die  in 
an  eastern  state,  came  to  Mr.  Moody  and  said  he 
could  not  leave  until  his  class  had  accepted  Christ. 
He  asked  Mr.  Moody  to  go  with  him  to  see  each 
of  them  in  their  own  homes.  Mr.  Moody  hired  a 
carriage  and  went  with  him.  His  earnest  desire 
for  their  salvation  and  the  necessity  of  his  leaving 
them  moved  each  one  of  them  to  tears,  and  finally 
they  all  came  together  at  the  home  of  one  of  the 
girls  for  a  final  meeting,  at  which  every  one  of 
them  accepted  Christ,  as  a  personal  Savior,  and 
when  he  took  the  train  for  his  eastern  home,  to  the 
great  surprise  of  Mr.  Moody  and  their  teacher, 
they  all  came  to  see  him  off  and  give  him  a  bouquet 
of  flowers,  and  sang  one  of  their  Sunday  School 
hymns  in  his  car.  This  was  a  revelation  to  Mr. 
Moody  of  the  value  of  personal  appeals  as  the 
culmination  of  successful  teaching  of  the  Word, 
and  from  that  time  he  was  the  apostle  of  such 
work  to  the  end  of  his  ministry,  and  inspired  a 
host  of  workers  to  follow  his  example. 

Riding  on  a  railroad  train  he  opened  a  conver- 

16 


Early  Recollections  oj  Moody  17 

sation  with  a  perfect  stranger  about  the  weather, 
etc.,  and  then  asked  the  same  question,  and  con- 
tinued the  interview  until  he  neared  his  station, 
when  he  asked  the  privilege  of  praying  with  him, 
by  bowing  their  heads  on  the  seat  in  front  of 
them — after  which  the  train  stopped  and  Moody 
was  gone.  Years  afterwards,  this  stranger  re- 
lated the  incident  as  the  means  of  his  conversion. 
He  certainly  sowed  beside  all  waters  and  God  gave 
the  increase. 

Here  are  three  cases  where  no  one  but  Moody 
would  have  thought  of  making  personal  appeals, 
and  in  every  case  God  honored  his  faith  and  works 
in  '  'sowing  beside  all  waters,"  by  giving  the  prom- 
ised harvest. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  a  church  was  formed  from 
the  converts  of  a  Sunday  School,  whose  superin- 
tendent had  such  a  spirit,  and  that  that  church  is 
to-day  crowded  with  more  listeners  than  any 
other  church  in  Chicago?  Nay,  the  wonder  is, 
that  more  sanctuaries  are  not  filled  to  overflowing, 
as  the  result  of  opening  the  Scriptures  to  men  who 
should  see  the  need  of  a  Savior,  but  regard  them- 
selves far  above  the  horizon  of  such  influences  as 
Moody  invoked  in  all  his  work,  who  scarcely  ever 
failed  to  find  the  word  so  used  by  him,  accomplish- 
ing that  for  which  it  was  sent  by  its  author,  viz. : 
Saving  the  lost. 

It  was  said  of  our  Savior,  '  'Publicans  and  sin- 
ners, and  the  common  people  heard  him  gladly." 


1 8  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

It  would  seem  from  these  early  incidents  in  con- 
nection with  Mr.  Moody's  Sunday  School  work 
that  he  was  especially  drawn  toward  those  who 
were  most  needy,  and  most  neglected  by  any 
Christian  agencies  for  their  uplifting,  first  among 
the  children,  and  then  among  the  older  people 
who  had  grown  up  without  such  influences. 

From  this  last  class  I  remember  two  cases,  one 
while  he  was  at  North  Market  Hall.  He  was  a 
young  man  and  a  slave  to  drink.  He  was  con- 
verted, but  his  habits  overcame  him  several  times, 
when  Mr.  Moody  took  him  to  an  empty  store  and 
tried  the  novel  thrashing  method,  with  the  desired 
result.  Who  will  say  that  prayer  did  not  precede 
such  training,  when  love  was  the  motive  power 
of  all  his  work? 

Another  was  in  the  great  Tabernacle  meetings, 
when  a  lawyer  from  Arkansas,  who  had  left  his 
family  and  come  to  Chicago  to  drink  himself  to 
death,  came  into  the  meeting  very  drunk,  and 
supported  himself  against  one  of  the  pillars  of  the 
gallery,  while  the  choir  was  singing  a  hymn  one 
strain  of  which  was: 

"Sowing  the  seed  of  a  tarnished  name, 
Sowing  the  seed  of  eternal  shame, 
Oh,  what  shall  the  harvest  be?" 

which  struck  his  case  on  all  fours;  Mr.  Moody 
then  said,  "If  I  were  bound  by  any  habit  from 
which  I  could  not  release  myself,  and  God  would 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  19 

not  answer  my  honest  prayer  for  relief,  I  would 
burn  my  Bible."  He  must  have  been  reading 
Luke  4: 1 8,  19,  where  the  Lord  proclaimed  Him- 
self as  the  deliverer  of  all  the  captives  of  Sin  and 
Satan. 

This  sword  of  the  Spirit  reached  the  drunken 
man,  who  really  wanted  to  be  released,  but  saw 
no  way  out  of  his  prison  of  habit,  and  he  came  to 
the  inquiry  room  for  help.  His  name  is  in  the 
Bible  that  Mr.  Moody  gave  me  (referred  to  here- 
after) now  buried  as  deep  in  the  ocean,  as  this 
man's  sins  were,  from  that  very  evening.  He  never 
afterwards  desired  a  drink  of  whiskey,  and  be- 
came a  Presbyterian  minister.  I  have  often  heard 
him  testify  at  the  noon  meetings  as  to  what  Jesus 
had  done  for  him,  in  that  he  never  again  had  any 
desire  for  whiskey,  which  before  then  held  him  as 
in  a  vise.  This  man  was  especially  helped  in  his 
efforts  to  save  drunken  men — having  been  to  the 
lowest  depths  of  degradation  from  drink  himself, 
he  was  able  to  reach  them  as  no  other  minister 
could. 


RESULTS  OF  MISSION  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 
WORK 

There  came  into  existence  in  due  time,  from 
converts  of  the  North  Market  Hall  Mission  Sun- 
day School,  the  Illinois  Street  Church,  organized 
by  ministers  of  all  the  denominations  connected 
with  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  except  the  Episcopal 
Church.  The  Chicago  Avenue  Church  -is  its 
lineal  descendant.  Mr.  Moody  procured  theo- 
logical students  to  preach  for  this  church,  until 
on  one  providential  day  in  the  calendar  of  his 
services,  said  student  did  not  appear,  and  Moody 
was  compelled  to  preach  the  sermon,  as  his  first. 
After  that  he  was  the  regular  pastor.  One  even- 
ing Charlie  Morton  just  out  of  the  army  minus 
one  arm,  and  then  from  a  saloon,  walked  by  this 
church  with  open  doors,  and  saw  over  the  pulpit 
from  the  street,  printed  in  gas  jets,  "God  is 
Love."  This  magnet  drew  him  in,  and  before 
leaving  a  hand  shake  from  Mr.  Moody,  and  an 
invitation  to  share  the  bed  of  the  then  secretary 
of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  until  he  could  get  work, 
opened  the  flood  gates  of  Charlie's  eminent  use- 
fulness as  a  successful  minister,  in  the  regular 
apostolic  succession,  as  state  secretary  of  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  for  evangelistic  work  as  one  of  Mr. 
Moody's  faithful  lieutenants.  Major  Cole  is  an- 

20 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  2 1 

other  graduate  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  as  an  evangel- 
ist, who  was  with  Mr.  Moody  in  London,  and 
has  incessantly  kept  up  his  work  ever  since  in 
this  country. 

It  was  there  that  he  said,  "Oh,  for  a  hundred 
thousand  souls  for  my  Master,"  and  I  really  be- 
lieve that  he  has  taken  more  than  that  many  in 
his  gospel  net  cast  in  life's  sea  at  the  Master's 
command,  out  of  this  Y.  M.  C.  A.  ship.  A  small 
host  of  laymen  could  be  named,  who  had  followed 
Christ  by  following  Moody  in  his  chosen  work 
as  their  evangelistic  bishop,  in  personal  work  for 
souls. 

This  leads  me  to  the  statement  of  the  fact  that 
Mr.  Moody  was  once  offered  an  ordination  by  the 
Congregational  Church,  to  which  he  .replied,  "I 
have  never  been  through  college  or  a  theological 
seminary,  except  to  go  in  one  door  and  out  the 
other.  I  therefore  cannot  accept  your  offer  and 
do  justice  to  your  rules  and  my  own  judg- 
ment." 

It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  he  had  more  in- 
fluence as  a  layman  with  the  masses  and  with 
sectarian  ministers,  than  he  would  have  had  as 
an  ordained  minister  of  any  one  church.  He 
may  be  styled  the  "Layman's  bishop  universal," 
for  the  reason  that  more  laymen  have  learned  to 
do  Christian  work  from  listening  to  him  and  being 
his  coadjutors,  than  from  any  other  minister  of 
Christ  in  this  or  any  other  country.  His  forte 


22  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

was  to  get  other  laymen  to  work  as  well  as 
ministers. 

He  thus  gradually  rose  from  being  a  preacher 
to  poor  children  in  a  saloon,  rented  by  himself  for 
that  purpose,  in  connection  with  the  Mission 
Sunday  School,  to  a  preacher  in  the  largest  hall  in 
London,  holding  25,000  people  (and  in  the  Opera 
house  in  the  court  end  of  London),  graduating 
from  serving  the  commonest  classes  to  the  high- 
est classes,  and  at  his  last  meeting  in  the  largest 
hall,  there  were  many  more  outside,  who  could 
not  get  in. 

I  give  here  some  remarkable  incidents  con- 
nected with  North  Market  Mission  Sunday 
School.  A  very  small  boy  of  his  age — &  child  of 
a  mother  who  had  once  kept  a  riotous  sailors' 
boarding  house,  was  converted  in  that  saloon. 
The  mayor  of  Brooklyn  being  in  a  prayer  meeting 
there,  when  this  little  boy  rose  to  pray  (whose 
head  did  not  reach  the  level  of  those  in  the  seats) 
was  so  touched  by  the  prayer,  that  he  sought 
him  out  at  the  close  of  the  meeting  to  speak  with 
him.  This  same  boy  went  with  Mr.  Moody  to 
the  saloon  of  an  infidel,  for  a  discussion  of  Chris- 
tianity arranged  for  by  him  the  day  before  (when 
he  came  there  to  get  his  boy  to  come  to  Sunday 
School),  between  Mr.  Moody  and  the  infidel's 
friends — each  to  have  a  half  an  hour's  time! 
They  were  all  there  as  appointed,  and  the  infidel 
and  his  friends  used  up  all  their  time  in  discussing 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  23 

the  order  of  the  exercises,  as  to  their  side  of  the 
case.  At  this  point  Mr.  Moody  called  a  halt,  and 
asked  this  little  boy  to  pray.  When  the  prayer 
was  concluded,  all  had  gone  out  one  by  one,  and 
left  Mr.  Moody  and  the  boy  alone  with  the  in- 
fidel saloon  keeper,  who  then  allowed  his  boy  to 
go  with  them  to  Mr.  Moody's  Sunday  School. 

All  arguments  were  useless  in  the  presence  of 
this  diminutive  living  fact,  talking  with  God  for 
these  infidels. 

Mr.  Moody  was  annoyed  by  a  bad  boy  who  in- 
sisted in  disturbing  his  class,  as  well  as  the  whole 
school.  One  day  Mr.  Moody  said  to  me,  "If  you 
see  me  take  that  boy  into  the  police  room,  you  will 
at  once  call  on  the  School  to  rise  and  sing  a  spirited 
hymn,  for  I  am  going  to  thrash  that  boy."  The 
program  was  executed  in  detail,  and  when  Mr. 
Moody  returned,  his  face  was  very  red  from  this 
religious  exercise,  which  in  due  time  resulted  in 
the  conversion  of  the  boy,  and  in  his  enlisting 
under  Mr.  Lincoln's  call  for  75,000  troops  in  the 
war  of  the  rebellion.  Discipline  is  very  necessary 
in  a  Sunday  School  as  well  as  an  army,  and  Mr. 
Moody  acted  upon  that  wholesome  plan, — prayer- 
fully no  doubt. 

A  MAN  OF  PRAYER 

Any  mighty  man  in  the  Scriptures,  must  be  a 
mighty  man  in  prayer  and  to  this  adjunct  of  the 
divinely  opened  Scriptures  to  Mr.  Moody,  we 


24  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

may  justly  ascribe  more  than  to  any  other  one 
agency,  the  success  of  his  labors  for  the  salvation 
of  men,  for  which  Christ  gave  his  life,  death, 
resurrection,  ascension  and  advocacy. 

It  was  this  controlling  power  of  prayer  in  Mr. 
.  Moody 's  life  which  inspired  him  to  build  the  first 
Association  building  ever  erected.  Prayer  was 
the  corner  stone  of  this  as  well  as  his  mission 
Sunday  School  work.  It  was  necessary  to  give 
the  Association  a  home,  hence  the  wisdom  of  his 
efforts  in  acquiring  first  an  appropriate  lot  as  a 
location  and  a  beginning.  This  opened  the  way 
for  subscribers  to  follow  with  the  necessary  means 
to  erect  the  first  building  on  the  site  of  the  present 
Association  Hall,  under  a  state  charter  relieving 
the  Association  from  taxes.  Nearly  forty  years 
of  Chicago's  growth  has  indeed  made  that  home 
(the  bare  land  being  now  worth  $700,000)  a  per- 
petual benediction  to  union  Christian  work,  re- 
vealing the  foresight  of  this  remarkable  man  in 
planning  effectual  means  for  continuous  Chris- 
tian work  in  Chicago  and  the  world  at  large,  long 
after  he  should  be  called  to  rest. 

I  give  only  one  incident  as  to  material  things 
which  occurred  here  during  the  great  Auditorium 
meetings.  His  Chicago  Avenue  Church  had  run 
in  debt  during  the  three  previous  years,  four 
thousand  dollars,  and  asked  Mr.  Moody  to  raise 
the  money.  He  told  them  that  he  could  not  ask 
for  money  for  that  purpose,  but  he  would  ask  the 


Early  Recollections  oj  Moody  25 

Lord  to  open  the  way  for  their  relief.  Soon  after 
this,  at  one  of  the  Auditorium  meetings,  a  woman 
presented  herself  after  the  doors  were  closed,  for 
admittance,  and  was  told  she  could  not  go  in,  as 
there  was  not  even  standing  room.  She  replied 
that  she  must  go  in  as  she  had  an  important  letter 
for  Mr.  Moody,  which  she  could  only  deliver  in 
person.  She  was  finally  allowed  to  go  in,  and 
forcing  her  way  to  the  platform  at  the  close  of  the 
meeting,  handed  him  the  letter  from  Mrs.  Cyrus 
H.  McCormick,  saying  she  had  been  so  impressed 
with  his  need  of  money  for  something,  that  she  had 
sent  him  a  check  for  two  thousand  dollars.  Mr. 
Moody  said  to  the  messenger  this  is  all  right,  tell 
Mrs.  McCormick  that  I  will  call  and  see  her, 
which  he  did,  and  after  warmly  thanking  the 
donor,  she  asked  him  about  the  necessity  that 
had  arisen,  and  when  the  full  facts  were  given, 
asked  for  the  check,  and  made  out  another  for 
four  thousand  dollars.  Mr.  Moody  was  of  course 
much  moved,  and  on  going  out  met  her  son  at  the 
door,  saying  to  him,  "See  what  your  mother  has 
given  me,"  holding  up  the  check.  "Well,"  he 
said,  "do  you  think  the  estate  can  stand  that?" 
Evidently  the  estate  is  still  flourishing  under  such 
beneficent  management. 

The  great  revival  of  1857-8  gave  birth  to  Union 
Noon-day  prayer  meetings,  and  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
under  such  auspices,  was  master  of  ceremonies 
in  the  Association's  second  birth.  For  many 


26  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

years  an  Association  of  this  name,  managed  by 
old  men,  had  had  its  existence,  but  this  revival 
put  the  young  converts  into  harness  for  them- 
selves, and  the  old  men  stepped  down  and  out — 
all  things  being  new.  Here  was  a  channel  through 
which  laymen  could  make  themselves  felt,  as  a 
unit.  The  Metropolitan  Hall,  larger  than  the 
present  Association  Hall,  was  daily  crowded  by 
these  meetings  from  platform  to  gallery.  The 
leaders  of  it  seemed  to  be  there  only  to  look  on  and 
keep  order,  while  from  one  to  six  were  on  their 
feet  at  once,  as  witnesses  for  Christ.  The  result 
was  that  many  churches  numbered  their  converts 
by  scores  or  hundreds.  In  such  an  atmosphere 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  mission  Sunday  Schools,  with 
such  men  as  Mr.  Moody  to  say  "come"  instead  of 
"go"  became  great  powers  in  city  and  country, 
from  which  all  union  efforts  since  then  have 
gathered  their  spirit  and  growing  strength — in 
both  of  which  Mr.  Moody  is  a  shining  example — 
having  invested  his  capital  as  well  as  himself, 
which  last  was  the  controlling  factor,  and  always 
will  be  in  Christian  work  for  others.  In  one  of 
these  Noon-day  meetings  held  in  Farwell  Hall 
during  the  Tabernacle  meetings  of  1876,  a  young 
man  approached  me  with  the  question,  "Do  you 
know  me?"  After  a  careful  scrutiny  I  replied, 
"I  think  you  are  the  boy  that  Moody  whipped 
for  disturbing  his  Sunday  School  class,  and  after- 
wards was  converted.  Did  it  last?"  "Yes,"  he 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  27 

said,  "you  are  right,  and  I  am  still  holding  on." 
Another  evidence  that  it  did  pay  to  use  all  means 
to  save  some. 

The  question  has  often  been  asked  where  did 
Moody  get  the  money  to  do  so  much?  He  only 
knows  fully  who  said,  "The  silver  and  gold  are 
mine."  When  he  went  to  London  a  friend  gave 
him  a  check  the  day  he  left  and  learned  years  after- 
wards that  he  could  not  have  gone  without  it.  In 
London  one  of  his  admirers  said  to  me,  "How  can 
I  get  one  thousand  dollars  into  Moody's  hands 
without  offending  him?  " 

SOME  MOST  REMARKABLE  INCIDENTS 

A  little  girl  of  Mr.  Moody's  Sunday  School  in- 
vited him  to  call  on  her  sick  mother.  On  enter- 
ing the  room  he  saw  where  he  was — nothing 
daunted  he  preached  Christ  to  her,  as  faithfully 
as  his  master  did  to  the  woman  at  the  well  of 
Samaria,  and  she  finally  professed  conversion, 
and  recovered  her  health.  To  secure  her  from 
further  temptation,  he  put  her  in  another  house, 
far  removed  from  the  one  she  was  in,  and  while 
there  the  monster  who  had  first  caused  her  ruin, 
found  her,  and  again  led  her  astray.  Then  it  was 
that  Mr.  Moody  who  previously  had  had  this  girl 
apprenticed  by  the  consent  of  the  mother,  sent 
her  to  Wisconsin  for  safety,  and  the  woman  de- 
manded her  return,  threatening  Moody  that  she 
would  charge  him  with  her  ruin,  if  he  did  not 


28  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

comply.  He  simply  declined,  and  gave  the  reason 
very  plainly,  and  then  had  the  woman  removed 
from  the  house.  The  woman  dared  not  execute 
her  threat,  and  when  on  her  death  bed,  many 
years  afterwards,  her  physician  said  to  her  that 
if  she  had  anything  to  say  or  do,  she  must  attend 
to  it  at  once,  as  she  had  not  long  to  live.  She  in- 
formed him  that  she  had  a  daughter,  and  that 
Mr.  Moody  was  the  only  one  who  knew  where  she 
was,  and  that  she  wished  the  doctor  to  see  him, 
and  have  her  come  to  her  funeral,  and  take  what 
property  she  had  after  her  death.  She  came,  and 
it  transpired  that  she  was  respectably  married 
and  had  one  child.  I  learned  that  this  doctor 
was  greatly  impressed  with  this  interview  with 
Moody,  and  instead  of  his  former  contempt  for 
him  (as  an  infidel),  was  thereafter  his  ardent 
admirer. 

How  many  unmarried  men  would  have  done 
this  more  than  good  Samaritan  deed,  at  the  risk 
of  losing  their  own  reputation?  This  incident 
illustrates  his  manly  courage,  as  well  as  his  prac- 
tical good  sense  in  the  work  of  saving  souls  from 
death,  more  than  any  other  that  came  to  my  no- 
tice, and  also  God's  faithfulness  to  his  own. 

There  were  many  Catholic  children  at  this 
time  who  broke  the  windows  of  his  prayer-meeting 
room  as  fast  as  they  were  repaired.  After  every 
effort  was  made  without  success  to  stop  this  van- 
dalism, Mr.  Moody  went  to  the  Catholic  bishop 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  29 

and  pleaded  with  him  for  protection,  as  he  was 
only  trying  to  save  just  such  boys  as  were  doing 
the  mischief.  The  bishop  remarked,  that  such 
zeal  as  his  should  be  in  the  true  church.  "Well," 
said  Mr.  Moody,  "if  there  is  any  man  on  earth 
that  wants  to  do  right,  I  am  one  of  them,  and  I 
wish  you  would  pray  God  to  open  my  eyes  if  I  am 
wrong."  Thus  challenged  they  were  soon  both 
on  their  knees,  and  when  the  bishop  said  amen, 
Mr.  Moody  prayed  as  earnestly — if  not  more  so — 
than  the  bishop  had  done, — that  God  would  open 
the  bishop's  eyes,  if  perchance  he  might  be  wrong, 
and  at  least  in  due  time  stop  the  bad  boys  in 
their  work.  As  they  rose  from  their  knees,  the 
bishop  assured  him  that  there  would  be  no  more 
such  trouble,  and  there  was  not. 

Evidently  he  saw  that  such  zeal  could  not  be 
smothered,  with  broken  windows,  and  that  such 
methods  would  recoil  on  the  Catholic  Church,  if 
they  were  persisted  in. 

Into  the  noon-prayer  meeting  came  many  re- 
ligious cranks.  One  of  them  was  a  minister,  who 
used  so  much  time  in  getting  off  big  words  in  his 
speeches,  that  Mr.  Moody  finally  went  to  him  and 
told  him,  that  while  God  might  tolerate  him  in  his 
use  of  so  much  time  to  no  good  purpose,  he  could 
not,  and  he  had  better  not  spend  his  time  with 
people  who  could  not  understand  his  toplofty 
words  and  style.  That  ended  the  man's  epistles 
to  Moody  and  to  others.  Another  was  a  layman, 


30  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

who  would  not  listen  to  Mr.  Moody's  suggestions 
to  be  quiet — often  given  to  him — and  finally  the 
police  was  asked  to  take  him  to  a  justice's  court 
and  from  there  to  the  bridewell,  as  a  disturber  of  a 
religious  meeting.  That  ended  another  trick  of 
the  D — 1  to  hinder  Moody  in  his  work  for  others. 

Mr.  Moody's  activity  among  the  poor  aroused, 
not  only  Catholic  opposition,  but  that  of  all  formal 
Christians,  and  even  an  Episcopal  Missionary 
minister  so  exposed  his  disapprobation  of  his 
methods  in  the  presence  of  his  janitor,  that  he  in- 
duced his  own  daughter  to  make  charges  against 
Mr.  Moody's  moral  character — out  of  whole 
cloth — in  order  to  give  his  minister  a  weapon 
against  Mr.  Moody.  As  soon  as  Mr.  Moody 
heard  it  he  called  on  the  minister,  and  insisted 
on  his  bringing  before  them  both  the  janitor  and 
his  daughter.  Thus  confronted  and  challenged 
to  tell  the  truth,  the  girl  confessed  that  the  charge 
had  no  foundation  in  fact,  and  that  she  only  made 
it  in  obeying  her  father.  How  subtle  the  arts  of 
the  evil  one  to  destroy  the  influence  of  such  a  man 
as  Moody,  but  how  much  stronger  Him  who  has 
promised,  in  every  temptation  or  trial  to  make  a 
way  of  escape  for  His  children. 

Mr.  Moody  once  started  for  a  Sunday  School 
convention  in  the  country,  and  when  too  far  away 
from  his  office  to  return  and  make  the  train,  he 
discovered  that  he  had  no  money  to  pay  the  rail- 
road fare.  He  went  on  all  the  same,  and  soon  an 


Early  Recollections  o)  Moody  31 

old  friend  shook  hands  with  him  and  left  a  ten- 
dollar  bill  in  his  hand,  to  indicate  that  the  Lord 
will  provide,  when  singleness  of  heart  for  divine 
work,  actuates  the  man  who  takes  it  up. 

At  one  of  these  conventions  he  was  asked  to 
preside,  and  a  congregational  brother  remarked, 
"Well  it  is  no  credit  to  us  to  have  elected  that 
crazy  Methodist."  When  he  was  told  that  Moody 
was  an  "inspired  Congregationalist"  he  could 
hardly  believe  his  senses.  This  was  one  of  the 
greatest  compliments  to  the  Methodist  Church  (in 
which  I  was  brought  up)  that  I  ever  heard. 

Mr.  Moody  believed  in  picnics  as  well  as  prayer 
meetings.  Once  a  year  the  whole  school  was 
taken  out  to  the  country  for  an  outing.  I  only 
went  to  one  of  them,  as  the  physical  exercise  to 
keep  up  with  Mr.  Moody  in  a  race  or  other  sports, 
was  too  much  for  me.  His  motto  was  not  to  be 
beaten  in  this  week  day  Sunday  School  work, 
more  than  on  Sunday. 

On  one  of  Mr.  Moody's  first  visits  to  Brooklyn, 
Mr.  John  D.  Cutler  invited  him  to  speak  to  his 
Sunday  School,  the  result  of  which  reveals  the 
hand  of  God  in  it. 

Some  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  after  that  visit, 
he  (Moody)  was  engaged  to  speak  in  the  Bedford 
Church,  Brooklyn,  and  he  was,  with  Mr.  Cutler, 
the  guest  of  Mr.  C.  D.  Wood,  on  St.  Mark's 
Avenue.  Seated  at  the  table,  he  had  no  sooner 
asked  a  blessing  than  he  said  to  their  host,  ab- 


32  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

ruptly,  "By  the  way,  there  was  an  incident  which 
happened  to  me  when  I  was  with  this  man,"  point- 
ing towards  Mr.  Cutler,  "that  influenced  me 
probably  more  than  any  single  incident  of  my 
life.  It  was  when  I  first  began  to  speak.  I  had 
come  down  to  New  York,  and  he  met  me  and  got 
me  out  to  his  little  school.  I  was  getting  into  the 
carriage  to  go  away  when  some  one  touched  me 
on  the  shoulder,  I  turned,  and  saw  an  old  man 
with  white  hair  blowing  in  the  wind,  and  with 
his  finger  pointing  at  me  he  said,  'Young  man, 
when  you  speak  again,  Honor  the  Holy  Ghost.' 
I  got  into  the  carriage  and  drove  away,  but  the 
voice  was  continually  ringing  in  my  ears;  yet  I 
did  not  understand  it.  It  was  six  months  after- 
wards before  God  revealed  to  me  the  meaning  of 
that  message — that  I  was  entirely  dependent  upon 
the  Holy  Spirit.  From  that  day  to  this,  I  sel- 
dom stand  before  a  great  audience  where  I  don't 
see  that  old  man,  with  his  outstretched  finger,  and 
hear  his  voice,  'Honor  the  Holy  Ghost.'  " 

This  is  the  incident  that  revealed  to  Mr.  Moody 
his  utter  dependence  on  the  Holy  Spirit,  for  re- 
sults in  his  work. 

The  late  Edward  Hawley  told  of  being  with 
Mr.  Moody  somewhere  about  the  time  of  this  in- 
cident in  a  revival  at  a  Sunday  School  Convention 
at  Springfield,  111.  On  their  return  to  Chicago, 
they  were  telling  in  the  meetings  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  what  great  things 


Early  Recollections  o)  Moody  33 

had  been  done,  when  Colonel  Hammond,  of  the 
Rock  Island  Railroad,  broke  in:  "You  are  telling 
us  what  Hawley  did,  and  what  Moody  did ;  but  I 
want  to  tell  you  that  neither  of  you  did  anything, 
for  the  Holy  Spirit  alone  can  change  the  heart. " 

These  incidents  must  have  inspired  in  Mr. 
Moody  a  longing  for  spiritual  power,  which  re- 
sulted in  such  an  answer  to  his  desire,  that  he  had 
to  pray,  "Lord,  stay  thine  hand,  I  can  hold  no 
more,"  or  words  to  that  effect,  and  he  then  became 
a  witness  for  Jesus  with  power. 

Years  ago  it  was  my  privilege  to  give  the  follow- 
ing as  part  of  an  address — which  may  well  be  in- 
cluded in  recollections  of  Mr.  Moody's  work  for 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.: 

"The  roots  of  things  determine  their  value,  and 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  is  not  an  exception.  Roots  are  of 
two  kinds ;  physical  and  spiritual.  An  acorn  is  an 
oak  in  minature,  and  a  single  soul  in  which  God 
has  a  monopoly,  is  the  prophecy  of  an  institution 
that  can  turn  the  world  upside  down,  and  so  make 
it  right  side  up  again,  in  the  geography  of  heaven 
and  earth. 

"God  chose  Moody,  after  Moody  had  made  an 
assignment  of  all  his  powers  to  carry  on  such  a 
business,  a  part  of  which  was  to  round  out  and 
perfect  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  as  a  religious  power,  to  be 
one  of  the  great  factors  in  preparing  the  world 
for  His  coming  again,  who  is  to  rule  in  righteous- 
ness, on  earth  as  well  as  in  Heaven. 


34  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

"George  Williams,  in  London,  antedated  all 
others  by  a  short  time,  the  organization  of  a  Y.- 
M.  C.  A.,  to  benefit,  primarily,  the  employees  of 
his  great  dry  goods  house,  and  Queen  Victoria  at 
the  recent  Jubilee  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.'s  of  the 
world  held  in  London,  made  him  a  knight  in 
recognition  of  the  value  of  Association  work.  On 
my  recent  visit  to  London,  Sir  George  gave  a  re- 
ception in  Exeter  Hall,  the  home  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. , 
at  which  some  stereopticon  views  of  a  corydon  of 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  buildings  which  had  in  fifty  years 
surrounded  the  world  were  exhibited.  The  acorn 
was  now  the  oak.  The  man  was  transformed 
into  a  world-wide  institution  for  young  men,  in  and 
through  which  to  train  them  in  that  spirit  of 
Christian  union,  with  which  Christ  himself  with 
infinite  pains  trained  his  disciples  for  their  great 
ministry  to  the  race,  as  the  first  Y.  M.  C.  A. 

"  Chicago  has  the  honor  of  having  built  the  first 
of  these  buildings  for  such  a  purpose,  and  in  fifty 
years  all  civilized  people  have  built  spiritual  as 
well  as  material  bricks  and  mortar  into  such  edi- 
fices around  the  world,  which  speak  out  in  the  still 
small  voice  for  Christian  union,  and  universal 
brotherhood. 

"It  was  the  great  revival  of  1857-8  that  put  new 
life  into  the  Chicago  Association,  and  indicated 
to  many  earnest  workers  in  it,  the  necessity  of 
something  better  than  rented  rooms  to  emphasize 
its  importance  as  a  new  factor  in  Christian  educa- 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  35 

tion  and  usefulness.  Mr.  Moody,  Mr.  Jacobs 
and  Mr.  Dean  had  a  little  prayer-meeting  for 
light  and  wisdom  for  taking  up  the  work  which 
resulted  in  the  acquisition  of  the  lot  on  which 
the  present  building  now  stands,  and  in  due  time 
the  first  Association  building  in  the  world  rose 
up  from  a  plat  of  ground  originally  laid  out  for 
the  reservoir  of  the  Chicago  Water  Works. 

"The  city  grew  so  fast  before  it  was  utilized  for 
that  purpose,  that  it  was  entirely  too  small,  and 
it  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Sheriff  of  Cook 
County,  who  made  a  garden  plat  of  the  site  of  the 
reservoir,  and  a  house  lot  of  the  Madison  Street 
front,  which  had  been  intended  for  the  Water 
Works  office.  The  whole  passed  into  other  hands 
for  a  residence  and  garden,  but  in  due  time  the 
house  became  too  small  and  the  owner  donated 
the  ground  to  give  place  to  an  institution  which 
was  destined  to  be  the  forerunner  of  the  millen- 
nium of  Christian  union,  and  a  world-wide  evan- 
gelization for  young  men.  A  reservoir  of  the 
water  of  life,  of  which  if  a  man  drink  he  shall 
never  thirst  again,  and  from  which  has  gone  out 
to  the  ends  of  the  earth  an  inspiration  the  power 
of  which  has  revolutionized  a  large  part  of  the 
Christian  world  out  of  sectarianism — as  such — 
into  one  consolidated  power  for  good,  in  practi- 
cally answering — in  a  broad  sense — the  Lord's 
prayer,  in  the  iyth  of  John — 'That  his  disciples — 
the  world  over — might  be  one,  even  as  he  and  his 


36  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

father  were  one.'  Mr.  Moody  was  the  master 
spirit  in  its  conception  and  completion."  May 
we  not  emphasize  now,  as  never  before,  the  reason 
for  the  Savior's  prayer — "That  the  world  may 
believe  that  thou  hast  sent  me?"  The  reason 
is  obvious. 

Among  the  many  who  were  always  the  friends 
of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  who  were  active  in  secur- 
ing a  permanent  home  for  it,  I  may  name  D.  L. 
Moody,  B.  F.  Jacobs,  Cyrus  Bentley,  C.  H.  Mc- 
Cormick,  George  Armour,  Orrington  Lunt,  Dr. 
Hollister  and  T.  W.  Harvey,  all  of  whom  are 
with  us,  except  Mr.  Bentley,  Mr.  McCormick  and 
Mr.  Armour,  to  see  what  God  hath  wrought,  and 
to  look  upon  our  present  building  as  the  best 
equipped  work  shop  for  making  Christian  char- 
acter in  young  men,  among  all  the  edifices  which 
have  risen  with  such  marvelous  rapidity  every- 
where, in  the  last  fifty  years. 

From  the  time  that  the  daily  prayer  meeting 
was  established  in  1858,  not  a  week  day  has  been 
passed  without  this  sacrifice  being  offered,  not 
excepting  the  day  of  the  great  fire  in  1871.  True 
there  was  one  day  when  it  was  held  in  the  third 
story  of  the  Clark  Street  M.  E.  Church  building, 
that  there  was  only  one  old  Scotch  lady  in  attend- 
ance, who  solitary  and  alone  sang  a  psalm,  read 
a  chapter  from  the  Bible  and  claiming  God's 
promises  for  herself,  prayed  for  the  meeting, 
which  from  that  day  began  to  grow,  and  to-day 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  37 

it  is  the  largest  daily  prayer  meeting  within  my 
knowledge  in  the  world.  Through  "great  tribu- 
lation" the  Chicago  Association  has  come  to  its 
present  patrimony.  Twice  its  building  has  been 
burned  down,  and  one  had  to  be  torn  down  as  in- 
adequate to  the  Association's  need,  to  give  place 
to  the  present  edifice,  which  in  cost,  size  and 
thorough  equipment  excels  any  that  has  ever  been 
built.  The  ground  on  which  it  stands  is  now 
worth  $700,000. 

At  times,  it  seemed  as  if  all  the  powers  of  dark- 
ness were  combined  to  destroy  the  organization, 
and  when  fire  had  twice  reduced  to  ashes  all  its 
worldly  possessions  except  the  reservoir  and  office 
lots,  such  men  as  George  Armour,  Cyrus  H.  Mc- 
Cormick  and  others,  said,  "This  temple  must  be 
rebuilt,"  and  such  men  as  Moody,  Harvey  and 
others  kept  the  altar  fires  burning,  and  to-day  we 
have  what  we  have  for  the  reason  that  the  seed 
had  eternal  life  in  it,  because  its  roots  were  planted 
in  the  heart  of  Christ,  when  he  answered  to  Peter's 
confession  of  faith.  "Thou  art  the  Christ,  the 
son  of  the  living  God."  "On  this  stone  (creed) 
I  will  build  my  church  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall 
not  prevail  against  it." 

The  fires  which  consumed  our  material  Y.  M.- 
C.  A.  temples,  only  kindled  anew  the  fire  in  living 
temples,  which  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  were  kin- 
dled by  the  Master  himself,  never  again  to  be  ex- 
tinguished until  he  comes  again  to  supplement  that 


38  Early  Recollections  0}  Moody 

supreme  gift,  with  the  new  heaven  and  the  new 
earth  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness.  It  remains 
for  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  to  fulfill  its  destiny  by  seeing 
to  it  that  her  temples — temporal  and  spiritual — 
are  always  in  order  and  waiting  for  that  coming, 
but  meantime  working,  as  though  all  depended  on 
personal  faithfulness,  and  praying  as  though  all 
individual  work  would  count  for  nothing,  if  for  an 
instant  we  forget  that  "Without  Him  we  can  do 
nothing." 

He  is  our  one  great  creditor,  and  he  wants  an  as- 
signment of  all  that  we  have  of  body,  soul  and 
spirit,  not  to  make  us  poor,  but  that  he  may  make 
us  his  heirs  to  greater  riches  than  can  be  computed 
by  our  arithmetic  of  wealth.  Why  should  he  not 
possess  the  monopoly  of  his  own  creations,  in  the 
old  as  well  as  the  new  man? 

To  bring  this  material  and  spiritual  history 
down  to  date:  while  we  have  seen  Providence  re- 
serving a  lot  in  the  center  of  the  business  district 
of  Chicago  for  this  temple  for  young  men,  we 
must  not  forget  the  work  of  Providence  in  raising 
up  at  the  right  time,  two  young  men  large  enough 
in  head  and  heart  to  see  the  possibilities  of  such 
an  agency  in  such  a  position,  who  were  to  take  up 
the  financing  of  its  construction,  at  a  time,  when 
to  most  men  the  task  seemed  too  great,  even  for 
Chicago  enterprise  to  undertake  and  carry 
through.  These  young  men  were  Cyrus  H. 
McCormick,  Jr.,  and  J.  V.  Farwell,  Jr.,  whose 


Early  Recollections  oj  Moody  39 

fathers  after  the  great  fire  aided  in  its  rebuild- 
ing. 

Let  no  future  generation  of  young  men  under- 
value, and  so  allow  such  an  investment  made  in 
the  infancy  of  Chicago's  coming  greatness  to  fall 
in  usefulness  below  the  prayers  and  anticipations 
of  those  founders  of  the  Chicago  Y.  M.  C.  A., 
and  who  are  now  from  the  battlements  of  heaven 
looking  on  with  increasing  interest,  as  its  work 
has  grown,  until  the  dead  speak  with  a  louder 
voice  than  the  living,  in  the  oak  of  their  acorn, 
whose  shadow  now  encircles  the  earth. 

May  they  not  make  its  influence  increase  in 
power,  until  the  Association  of  this  central  city 
of  this  great  continent,  "shall  shine  as  the  stars 
forever  and  ever,"  because  of  the  great  number 
of  young  men  who  shall  hereafter  sit  in  its  shadow 
for  the  great  work  of  life. 

May  I  not  add  in  this  year  of  our  Lord  1901, 
that  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  in  such  work,  evangelists 
will  again  be  heard  through  its  agency,  as  they 
were  in  its  organization  and  subsequent  usefulness 
to  the  church,  though  for  years  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
has,  in  a  large  sense,  dropped  that  initial  agency 
in  popularizing  it,  from  its  councils.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say,  that  but  for  this  agency,  inaugurated 
by  Mr.  Moody  in  the  Chicago  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  it 
would  not  now  own  the  best  building  in  the  world, 
nor  would  the  churches  have  endorsed  and  sup- 
ported it  as  they  have  since  then,  throughout  the 


4O  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

world,  but  for  its  usefulness  to  the  church  through 
its  evangelists,  with  Mr.  Moody  as  the  leader. 

On  his  return  from  England,  a  committee  was 
formed  (of  which  T.  W.  Harvey  was  chairman) 
to  build  a  large  tabernacle  for  his  meetings.  The 
committee  was  greatly  discouraged  at  the  progress 
made,  when  a  proposition  was  made  by  C.  B. 
and  J.  V.  Farwell  to  build  the  tabernacle,  as  the 
commencement  of  a  large  business  block,  and 
charge  the  committee  only  the  cost  of  the  construc- 
tion of  the  roof  and  galleries,  and  their  removal 
provided  all  the  money  subscribed  for  such  pur- 
pose (except  that  amount)  should  be  used  toward 
canceling  the  debt  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  on  its 
building. 

This  proposition  was  accepted,  and  within 
sixty  days  the  tabernacle  was  turned  over  to  the 
committee,  which  Mr.  Moody  said  was  the  most 
complete  of  any  he  had  ever  used — with  acoustic 
properties  perfect.  After  the  close  of  the  meetings 
Mr.  Moody  raised  the  balance  of  the  money  neces- 
sary to  clear  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  building  from  debt. 
That  building  was  demolished  to  give  place  to  the 
present  magnificent  temple,  exceeding  in  value  any 
other  now  in  existence.  As  stated  above,  the 
first  building  was  the  pioneer  of  a  corydon  of 
union  structures  under  Y.  M.  C.  A.  control, 
which  now  encircle  the  earth,  started  with  Mr. 
Moody's  little  prayer  meeting  of  three,  that  such 
a  temple  might  be  built  for  a  permanent  home 


Early  Recollections  o)  Moody  41 

for  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  John  illustrated. 
The  ownership  of  this  lot  free  from  debt,  was 
what  made  the  present  Y.  M.  C.  A.  building 
possible — Mr.  Moody  was  God's  agent  in  its  ac- 
quirement. 

Surely  not  for  the  glorification  of  self  did  he  do 
this  great  work,  as  one  incident  in  connection  with 
the  dedication  of  the  first  building  will  show. 
George  H.  Stuart  of  the  United  States  Christian 
Commission,  was  chairman  of  the  meeting,  and 
intended  to  have  the  hall  named  after  Mr.  Moody. 
Mr.  Moody  learned  or  surmised  this  fact,  and  at 
the  proper  moment  took  the  platform  himself,  and 
with  a  short  and  passionate  appeal  asked  the  audi- 
ence to  name  it  "Farwell  Hall."  At  his  earnest 
request,  the  audience  acceded  to  the  only  mistake 
Mr.  Moody  ever  made  in  connection  with  this  en- 
terprise. Since  then  he  has  preached  the  gospel 
in  all  the  principle  cities  of  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States  in  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  halls  thus  started 
by  himself,  and  as  yet  I  have  never  heard  him 
claiming  any  honor  for  inception  or  results.  He 
laid  all  these  at  the  feet  of  his  master,  that  his 
"testimony  of  Jesus"  might  have  no  blemish, 
that  would  prevent  any  man  from  accepting  his 
Lord  the  same  as  Paul  did,  before  he  began  his 
great  work,  which  with  Moody's  are  to  continue 
unto  the  end  of  time.  Perhaps  the  present  hall 
has  providentially  been  without  a  name,  until  Mr. 
Moody  was  translated,  the  trustees  knowing  that 


42  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

he  would  not  (while  alive)  consent  to  have  his 
name  anywhere,  except  in  the  hearts  of  mankind 
whom  he  served.  In  the  name  of  all  the  Associa- 
tion buildings  in  the  world,  should  not  the  Chi- 
cago Y.  M.  C.  A.  hall  be  named  Moody  Hall,  to 
speak  now  that  he  is  dead,  of  his  self-denying 
efforts  when  alive  to  give  such  buildings  to  the 
young  men  of  the  world? 

I  cannot  forget  another  incident  which  illus- 
trates Mr.  Moody's  wonderful  humility,  among 
all  his  successes  as  an  evangelist.  Mr.  Daniels, 
a  Methodist  minister,  determined  to  write  up  his 
work  in  book  form,  and  followed  him  to  London 
for  that  purpose.  He  arranged  with  Mr.  Moody's 
publishers  in  London  to  publish  the  work — when 
Mr.  Moody  heard  of  it,  he  enjoined  them  from 
having  anything  to  do  with  it,  and  did  all  he  could 
to  dissuade  Mr.  Daniels  from  such  an  enterprise, 
but  to  no  purpose.  The  book  was  very  creditable 
and  was  published  in  Hartford,  but  had  a  very 
limited  circulation. 

WORK  FOR  UNITED   STATES   CHRISTIAN 
COMMISSION 

There  never  was  a  time  in  my  acquaintance 
with  Mr.  Moody  when  his  great  heart  was  so 
moved,  as  when  the  war  was  at  its  height,  and  the 
Christian  Commission  was  founded  for  work 
among  the  soldiers,  in  Camp  Douglas,  the  Chicago 
home  of  Union  soldiers. 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  43 

Camp  Douglas  was  his  kindergarten  school  of 
training  for  that  work.  When  Buckner's  Fort 
Donelson  army  arrived  in  Chicago  as  prisoners,  he 
immediately  began  vigorous  work  among  them 
Hymn  books  with  the  Stars  and  Stripes  on  the 
covers  were  used,  and  when  the  rebels  refused  to 
sing  out  of  them,  on  that  account,  he  began  to 
realize  as  never  before  the  spirit  of  the  rebellion. 

Very  soon  he  was  made  a  Christian  Commission 
delegate  at  large,  and  his  first  sight  of  blood  was 
after  the  Pittsburg  Landing  battle.  He  met  the 
transports  bearing  wounded  soldiers  north,  and 
I  shall  never  forget  his  tragic  relation  of  the  inci- 
dents on  that  journey,  with  wounded  and  dying 
soldiers — many  of  them  accepting  Christ  in  their 
dying  agonies,  as  he  pictured  to  them  the  com- 
passion of  Jesus. 

As  chairman  of  the  northwestern  branch  of  the 
Christian  Commission,  giving  all  my  time  to  its 
work,  I  can  say  truthfully,  that  my  inspiration  for 
it  came  largely  from  Mr.  Moody's  ministry  on 
that  occasion.  In  the  presence  of  death  he  seemed 
inspired  to  present  Christ  as  the  only  living 
Savior — "with  power" — so  that  many,  through 
that  ministry,  were  no  doubt  waiting  for  him  in 
the  land  where  all  battles  are  over;  when  he  came 
home  with  the  record  of  a  lifetime  spent  in  preach- 
ing Christ  to  dying  men,  but  never  with  more  power 
and  success  than  with  sick  and  dying  soldiers — 
and  then  writing  home  to  praying  mothers,  at 


44  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

their  request,  that  at  last  their  prayers  had  been 
answered.  Three  years  of  such  work  was  an- 
other divine  preparation  for  his  greater  work 
which  followed  ten  years  afterwards,  in  his  Eng- 
lish campaign  among  the  masses  as  well  as  the 
noblemen  of  England. 

If  he  had  had  press  assistants  to  record  his  ex- 
periences as  a  Christian  Commission  delegate,  a 
volume  could  have  been  printed,  that  would  illus- 
trate his  characteristics,  under  the  strain  of  after- 
battle  scenes,  that  would  stir  the  hearts  of  Chris- 
tian patriotism  in  this  country  to  its  depths. 

Instant  action  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  hour, 
was  one  of  his  characteristics  that  found  timely 
play  after  a  battle,  amid  the  horrors  of  suffering 
and  death,  better  than  anywhere  else,  and  a  man 
who  felt  in  his  own  soul  the  great  need  of  such 
men  at  such  a  time,  made  him  a  hero  in  righting 
their  spiritual  battles  with  and  for  them,  to  make 
them  Christian  soldiers,  as  few  men  could. 

Camp  Douglas  was  the  home  of  Rebel  prisoners 
as  well  as  Union  soldiers  and  Mr.  Moody  and  his 
band  of  co-workers  in  song,  speech  and  distribu- 
tion of  religious  literature,  had  the  work  fully  or- 
ganized before  any  prisoners  occupied  it. 

He  had  the  freedom  of  the  camp  always.  I 
never  saw  him  so  excited  as  when  after  holding 
many  meetings  among  the  rebel  prisoners,  it  was 
ascertained  that  a  conspiracy  was  hatched  to  break 
out  and  burn  Chicago,  and  particularly  the 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  45 

Y.  M.  C.  A.  building  and  the  store  of  J.  V.  Far- 
well  &  Co.,  because  of  their  activity  in  war  matters. 
He  and  his  assistants  raised  a  battalion,  and  I,  as 
president,  received  a  letter  from  the  New  Orleans 
Y  M.  C.  A.  counseling  us  to  desist  from  such 
work. 

Mr.  Moody  was  especially  active  in  raising  this 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  battalion.  It  was  my  duty  as 
president  to  make  the  presentation  speech  when  a 
flag  was  given  it,  in  the  noon  prayer-meeting  room 
of  the  Y.  M  C.  A.,  as  follows—- 
Captain Barker:  "I  need  not  tell  you  that 
history  informs  us,  that  in  all  ages  of  the  world, 
emblems  of  nationality  have  commanded  the 
homage,  the  purse  and  the  hearts'  blood — if  need 
be — of  every  true  patriot;  and  in  America,  sir, 
every  insult  to  that  Magna  Charta  of  our  blood- 
bought  rights,  brings  to  its  defense  men  who  will 
peril  their  all  to  maintain  its  honor  In  every 
controversy,  individual  or  national,  there  is  a 
right  and  a  wrong  side,  and  'thrice  is  he  armed 
who  has  his  quarrel  just.'  A  heathen  general 
once  ordered  his  subordinates  to  number  his 
army,  before  engaging  a  much  larger  force  in 
battle.  The  work  being  done,  they  reported  a 
force  of  ten  thousand  men  to  go  out  against  40,000 
of  the  enemy,  and  counseled  a  surrender.  The 
general  said,  you  have  made  an  egregious  error 
in  numbering  my  men.  After  asserting  that  they 
were  right,  said  he,  'How  many  did  you  put  me 


46  Early  Recollections  o]  Moody 

down  for?'  'Only  one,  sir — '  'Bad  mistake, 
gentlemen,  you  will  let  me  number  them  over 
again.  Our  cause  is  just — you  may  therefore 
put  me  down  for  20,000,  and  for  each  of  my  sol- 
diers you  may  count  three,  making  in  all  50,000 
against  40,000  of  the  enemy,  every  man  of  which 
is  not  over  half  a  man,  when  fighting  against  the 
right.  Now,  will  you  fight  them?'  'Aye,  sir, 
and  whip  them  too ;'  and  they  were  as  good  as  their 
word. 

"In  behalf  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  many  of  whose 
members  are  under  your  command,  I  present  you 
this  flag,  the  emblem  of  our  dearly  bought  liberties, 
expecting  that  you  will  trust  in  God  while  under 
its  folds,  and  be  counted  for  20,000  against  its 
enemies,  and  every  man  of  your  command,  a  host, 
to  follow  your  lead  in  placing  it  on  the  record  of 
national  glory,  second  to  none  that  waves  in  the 
free  air  of  heaven.  Your  commander  in  chief, 
the  president  of  the  United  States,  on  taking  leave 
of  his  home  in  Springfield  to  assume  the  guardian- 
ship of  our  national  flag,  said:  'I  have  a  greater 
task  before  me  than  that  which  engaged  the  soul 
of  Washington,  and  without  the  assistance  of  the 
God  of  nations  I  cannot  succeed;  with  it  I  cannot 
fail,  and  I  ask  the  prayers  of  all  God's  people  that 
I  may  not  fail.' 

"I  believe,  sir,  that  he  will  not  fail,  for  I  believe 
that  the  God  of  Washington  is  Lincoln's  God, 
not  for  personal  aggrandizement,  but  for  our  na- 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  47 

tional  weal,  and  the  world's  redemption  from 
tyranny.  And  now,  sir,  while  I  hand  you  this 
stand  of  colors,  permit  me  to  propose  the  senti- 
ment: 

"Down  with  the  traitor's  serpent  flag! 
Death  to  the  wretch  o'er  whom  it  waves, 
And  let  our  heaven-born  banner  float, 
O'er  freemen's  homes  and  traitors'  graves." 

Our  recent  war  with  Spain  and  its  results,  em- 
phasize this  prophesy,  that  Lincoln's  God  has 
opened  the  way  under  McKinley,  for  the  "world's 
redemption  from  tyranny."  The  Stars  and 
Stripes  are  honored  as  never  before,  the  world 
over. 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  this  Christian  Com- 
mission, which  had  first  begun  work  in  Chicago 
under  Mr.  Moody — held  a  convention  in  Wash- 
ington. 

At  one  of  the  meetings  Secretary  Seward  pre- 
sided and  President  Lincoln  and  his  cabinet  were 
present.     Mr.  Phillips  sang  a  song — the  closing 
verse  of  which  was: 
"If  you  cannot  in  the  conflict  prove  yourself  a  soldier 

true — 
If  where  fire  and  smoke  are  thickest,  there's  no  work 

for  you  to  do, 
When  the  battlefield  is  silent,  you  can  go  with  careful 

tread, 
You  can  bear  away  the  wounded,  you  can  cover  up 

the  dead." 


48  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

President  Lincoln  while  wiping  tears  from  his 
eyes,  sent  up  a  request  that  this  song  be  repeated 
at  the  close  of  the  service.  This  verse  described 
Mr.  Moody's  work  on  many  a  battlefield,  when 
the  fight  was  over. 

At  another  meeting  General  Grant  presided, 
and  I  was  asked  to  make  the  address  as  chairman 
of  the  Northwest  branch  of  the  Christian  Com- 
mission. Never  was  such  an  honor  forced  upon 
me,  and  I  am  sure  that  Mr.  Moody's  example  in 
work  for  soldiers,  so  stirred  me  up,  that  such  an 
honor  was  possible  to  me,  together  with  the 
presentation  to  me  in  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Chicago,  by  that  branch  of  the  Com- 
mittee, of  a  large  handsomely  bound  Bible,  with 
an  address  signed  by  Chicago's  Christian  Workers 
in  the  army.  These  are  precious  memories  of 
the  results  of  work  with  Mr.  Moody,  for  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  in  the  most  momentous 
era,  in  the  making  of  the  world's  history,  in  the 
maintaining  of  peace  and  good  government  among 
all  nations — beginning  at  Bunker  Hill  in  1776 
and  ending  around  Richmond  in  1864. 


NORTHFIELD  INCIDENTS 

The  conversion  of  Mr.  Moody's  invalid  brother, 
together  with  his  death,  are  both  notable  incidents 
in  the  results  of  his  influence  at  home.  This 
brother  had  come  to  Chicago,  as  an  invalid,  for 
his  brother's  health,  while  rejecting  his  brother's 
Savior.  It  was  in  Northfield  that  he  repented  and 
found  pardon.  He  then  became  president  of 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  there,  and  at  his  death  a  good 
company  of  young  men,  who  had  been  brought 
to  his  Savior  through  his  own  ministry,  sat  in 
front  of  the  pulpit,  while  Mr.  Moody  gave  one  of 
his  characteristic  addresses  which  brought  tears 
to  all  eyes.  He  had  seen  of  the  travail  of  his  soul 
for  a  brother,  and  was  satisfied,  because  Christ 
had  given  him  such  substantial  proof  of  his 
discipleship. 

On  his  return  from  England  Mr.  Moody's 
mother  rose  for  prayer  in  one  of  his  meetings.  He 
was  so  overcome  that  he  could  scarcely  ask  a 
friend  to  lead  in  prayer.  She  then  became  a 
member  of  the  Congregational  Church. 

On  one  of  my  visits  to  Northfield,  Mr.  Moody 
insisted  on  my  taking  the  morning  service,  while 
he  sat  in  one  of  the  pews.  I  read  and  commented 
on  the  first  eight  verses  of  the  first  chapter  of 
Second  Peter,  giving  special  emphasis  to  those  verses 

49 


50  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

which  followed  faith;  namely,  faithfulness  in  the 
knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ  as  a  co-worker  with  him. 

On  going  to  his  seat  after  the  service,  Mr. 
Moody  said  to  me,  "My  dear  brother,  you 
should  have  read  the  next  verse,  and  emphasized 
the  result  of  not  adding  the  Christian  graces  in 
active  work  to  one's  faith,  which  was  not  only  no 
fruit  in  their  lives,  but  actual  forgetfulness  that 
they  had  been  converted.  If  there  is  any  'falling 
from  grace,'  this  must  explain  the  reason." 

"The  Testimony  of  Jesus,"  from  this  man  has 
reached  millions  because  it  was  the  spirit  of  his 
preaching  as  a  believer  in  the  Master's  first  re- 
corded sermon,  as  to  his  own  character  and  office 
work  upon  the  hearts,  minds  and  wills  of  men, 
of  which  he  was  a  living  witness.  "Ye  are  my 
witnesses,"  are  the  words  of  Jesus  to  every  re- 
deemed soul.  Luke  4: 1 8,  19,  21.  Rev.  19: 10. 

The  following  letter  from  Morris  K.  Jessup,  one 
of  the  leading  Christian  business  men  of  New 
York,  reveals  the  fact  that  he  seriously  considered 
the  plan  of  getting  Mr.  Moody  to  make  New  York 
his  headquarters  for  religious  work.  Hence,  be- 
fore going  to  England,  it  is  clear  that  his  efficiency 
in  such  work  was  fully  appreciated  by  one  of  the 
most  useful  and  discriminating  business  men  in 
New  York  as  well  as  by  others  elsewhere  in  this 
country.  He  preferred  to  stay  where  he  was  first 
appreciated  as  a  prophet,  even  in  his  own  chosen 
home. 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  51 

NEW  YORK,  January  17,  1872. 

My  dear  Mr.  Farwell:  I  thank  you  very  much  for 
your  letter.  I  am  very  glad  indeed  to  have  had  the 
opportunity  of  seeing  and  knowing  more  of  Mr. 
Moody  when  he  was  last  here,  than  before,  and  I  am 
glad  to  say  to  you,  that  the  more  I  see  of  Moody  the 
more  I  like  him.  I  believe  God  is  making  him  the 
instrument  of  a  great  work  among  the  people.  Moody 
and  I  had  quite  a  talk  about  getting  hold  of  the  masses 
in  this  city,  and  he  quite  cheered  me  up.  I  have 
thought  on  the  matter  a  good  deal  lately,  and  my 
mind  has  rather  been  led  to  the  fact  that  Moody  is  the 
man  to  come  here  and  enter  upon  this  work,  in  fact  I 
cannot  rid  my  mind  of  the  matter,  and  I  am  waiting 
a  little  more  the  directing  of  Providence.  We  must 
do  something  in  a  large  way  for  the  masses  in  this  city. 
God  will  not  be  satisfied  with  the  mean  way  the  work 
has  been  carried  on, — the  fact  is,  we  as  Christians 
have  not  done  the  right  thing  in  this  respect,  and  I 
believe  now  the  opportunity  must  be  embraced.  I 
wish  you  would  think  the  matter  over  about  Moody 
and  write  me.  I  don't  want  to  take  him  from  Chicago 
unless  it  is  the  Lord's  will,  and  then  no  one  can  inter- 
pose. I  should  be  willing  to  take  the  expense  on  my 
shoulders.  I  am  feeling  my  way  at  this  moment.  I 
feel  sure  the  Lord  will  bring  out  all  the  right  way,  if  He 
sees  that  our  desire  is  for  His  glory  alone  and  not  for 
self  pride  or  vanity.  I  am  glad  you  escaped  so  well 
from  the  fire.  What  a  terrible  ordeal  you  have  all 
gone  through.  God  bless  you  all, 

M.  K.  JESSUP. 

J.  V.  Farwell,  Esq. 


52  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

The  proposition  to  remove  Mr.  Moody  to  New 
York,  was  not  entertained. 

England  and  the  world  were  larger  fields,  and 
well  occupied  by  voice  and  type,  prepared  the  way 
for  a  work  in  New  York,  that  could  not  have  been 
accomplished  had  he  gone  there  first.  It  was 
my  great  privilege  to  be  with  him  a  part  of  the 
time  while  in  our  metropolis. 


EARLY  EVANGELISTIC  WORK  IN  ENG- 
LAND—AS A  BIBLE  STUDENT 

I  regard  humility  as  one  of  Mr.  Moody's  most 
marvelous  characteristics  in  the  light  of  his  wonder- 
ful success  as  a  preacher  in  Great  Britain  and 
America.  I  never  heard  him  refer  to  his  successes 
in  the  work  of  an  evangelist  especially,  until  the 
year  he  died,  and  in  his  own  church,  which  I  give 
as  nearly  as  I  can  from  memory. 

He  had  on  his  first  trip  to  England  been  in- 
vited to  preach  by  two  prominent  clergymen  in  a 
large  North  of  London  Church,  and  this  was  his 
narrative  of  results: 

"I  never  before  felt  so  weak,  and  considered  my 
effort  a  failure,  but  nevertheless  as  was  my  custom, 
I  asked  all  who  wanted  to  be  Christians  to  rise. 
Over  400  rose.  Thinking  they  or  I  had  made  a 
mistake,  I  asked  them  to  take  their  seats,  when  I 
again  explained  the  nature  of  my  request,  and 
what  it  meant  to  them,  and  then  asked  all  to  rise 
who  really  wished  to  have  their  lives  changed  by 
the  power  of  God  through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  as 
a  personal  Savior,  and  then  some  500  rose  to  their 
feet  and  remained  for  a  second  meeting,  which 
was  the  beginning  of  a  great  revival." 

A  bedridden  saint  had  been  for  months  praying 
that  Mr.  Moody  might  come  to  her  church  for 
53 


54  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

work,  and  did  not  know  he  was  there  until  after 
this  meeting  was  held. 

Mr.  Moody  had  never  seen  anything  equal  to 
this  in  America,  and  may  we  not  conclude  that 
the  memory  of  this  meeting,  when  he  was  after- 
wards invited  by  these  two  able  clergymen  teachers 
to  come  to  England  for  a  long  evangelistic  mission, 
and  the  fact  that  the  great  fire  had  destroyed  all 
the  buildings  he  had  worked  in  here,  were  to  him 
God's  call  to  that  work.  I  did  all  I  could  to  dis- 
suade him  from  going,  but  to  no  purpose,  and  so 
when  the  afternoon  came  for  him  to  leave,  I  went 
to  his  office  for  a  farewell  visit,  and  found  him  just 
ready  to  come  to  mine.  He  had  a  Bagster's  Bible 
in  his  hand  to  give  to  me,  and  I  had  a  check  in  my 
hand  to  give  to  him.  About  three  years  after 
that  I  learned  that  but  for  that  check  he  could 
not  have  started  for  England  without  borrowing 
money.  This  Bible  was  very  dear  to  me  from 
this  circumstance  and  one  other — as  follows : 

Some  ten  years  after,  on  a  return  trip  from 
England,  and  when  near  New  York,  after  the 
fog  horn  which  had  kept  me  awake  all  night  had 
ceased  for  a  short  time,  I  heard  a  crash  near  my 
stateroom,  and  before  I  could  dress  myself,  the 
cry  rang  through  the  ship,  "All  hands  on  deck 
with  your  life  preservers."  On  reaching  the 
deck  the  only  star  seen  in  the  horizon,  was  the 
morning  star.  Instantly  there  came  to  my  mind, 
"I  am  the  bright  and  morning  star,"  and  from 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  55 

that  time  I  seemed  as  calm  as  if  on  shore,  amid 
all  the  bustle  of  getting  off  the  sinking  ship  in  a 
rough  sea  to  life  boats,  and  from  there  to  a 
schooner,  until  its  decks  were  filled;  when  the 
Fulda  from  Hamburg  (which  had  been  detained 
some  hours  from  starting  on  her  regular  time) 
came  in  sight  and  arrived  alongside,  just  in  time 
to  see  the  Oregon  go  down.  We  were  all — 983 
persons — taken  on  board,  and  reached  New  York 
City  early  the  next  morning.  I  had  been  given 
the  steward's  stateroom,  and  dreamed  just  before 
awaking  in  the  morning,  of  reading  the  Beatitudes 
from  the  Bible  Mr.  Moody  gave  me  to  the  verse — 
* 'Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart  for  they  shall 
see  God,"  when  with  tears  in  my  eyes,  I  looked  out 
of  the  port  hole,  and  there  again  was,  "the  bright 
and  morning  star"  shining  in  my  face;  but  my 
Moody  Bible  was  in  the  bottom  of  the  ocean,  and 
the  one  I  now  have  Mr.  Moody  gave  me  after 
hearing  of  my  loss,  with  a  multitude  of  his  own 
markings  in  it.  Do  you  think  I  will  ever  cease 
to  love  Mr.  Moody's  Bible,  given  me  on  his  leaving 
Chicago  for  his  world-wide  mission,  or  the  one 
I  now  have,  from  his  loving  heart? 

On  his  arrival  at  Liverpool,  the  two  clergymen 
who  gave  him  the  invitation  to  come,  were  in  their 
graves,  leaving  Moody  to  depend  entirely  on  God 
for  help,  and  Mr.  Sankey  with  him  to  whom  he 
had  guaranteed  $1,200  salary.  Their  first  meet- 
ings were  practically  failures,  and  not  until  they 


56  Early  Recollections  o)  Moody 

opened  up  in  York  and  Newcastle,  on  en- 
tirely new  lines,  was  there  any  promise  of  success. 
It  is  very  hard  for  strangers  to  get  a  hearing  in 
England,  without  first-class  introductions  from 
men  well  known. 

This  new  departure  was  the  issuing  of  tickets 
to  factory  hands  (who  gave  them  half  of  their 
noon  hour  for  singing  and  talking)  to  come  to  an 
evening  meeting.  These  were  crowded,  and  of 
such  power  that  Edinburgh  sent  a  delegation  of 
ministers  to  hear  this  man,  who  was  turning  the 
world  upside  down  to  make  it  right  side  up,  who 
invited  him  to  Edinburgh.  This  made  for  him 
an  open  door  to  the  whole  kingdom,  and  most 
appropriately  he  ended  his  labors  in  London — 
the  capital  of  the  world  in  more  ways  than  one. 

He  here  invited  a  large  number  of  prominent 
ministers  at  different  times  to  meet  him  in  the 
parlors  of  his  friends  for  Bible  instruction.  I 
heard  him  say  to  one  such  company,  "I  am  not  a 
graduate  of  any  college,  or  theological  seminary, 
and  so  I  have  asked  you  here  to  get  all  I  can  out 
of  you,  from  the  Bible,  for  use  in  my  work." 
With  such  a  frank  avowal,  what  wonder  that  they 
opened  to  him  of  their  Bible  treasures,  as  a  free- 
will offering  to  his  work  in  London.  They  saw 
God  in  Mr.  Moody's  work  so  entered  into  (and 
in  Mr  Moody  as  a  man),  and  the  vision  inspired 
them,  as  his  most  efficient  helpers.  This  leads 
me  to  say  that  I  never  knew  a  man  who  had  such 


Early  Recollections  0}  Moody  57 

a  marvelous  faculty  for  setting  other  men  to  work, 
both  laymen  and  ministers.  Indeed,  as  laymen 
were  the  most  numerous,  he  seemed  to  call  for, 
and  depend  on  them,  more  than  on  the  ministry, 
especially  in  the  inquiry  meetings,  which  always 
followed  his  preaching. 

We  all  instinctively  look  back  for  the  incipient 
springs  which  have  grown  to  such  an  ocean  of 
Christian  usefulness.  Well,  as  we  have  seen, 
the  poor  neglected  children  of  the  worst  parts  of 
Chicago,  was  where  Mr.  Moody  graduated  from 
as  a  Christian  minister,  and  it  was  my  great  good 
fortune  to  watch  the  process,  which  was  rapid, 
culminating  in  his  being  the  foremost  Christian 
preacher  of  his  time,  if  not  of  all  time,  if  judged  by 
the  result  of  his  work,  from  Chicago  as  its  initial 
point,  until  they  have  reached  around  the  world. 
I  have  a  letter  from  the  press  clipping  bureau  of 
Boston,  informing  me  that  they  had  one  thousand 
obituary  notices  of  Mr.  Moody  and  would  prob- 
ably get  three  hundred  more,  which  indicates  in 
what  esteem  he  was  held  in  his  own  country. 

Let  us  notice  in  passing,  his  last  meeting  in 
Agricultural  Hall,  London,  holding  25,000  people, 
as  the  inspiration  for  tabernacle  buildings  in  the 
United  States,  and  of  his  last  meeting  on  earth  in 
Kansas  City  in  the  large  Exposition  Hall,  holding 
some  20,000  people  as  his  closing  meeting  on 
earth.  The  London  meeting  crossed  the  ocean 
with  its  inspiration,  and  on  his  return  to  America, 


58  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

Christian  ministers  and  laymen  of  all  denomina- 
tions united  under  the  leadership  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
to  build  large  tabernacles  here,  for  this  world- wide 
evangelist,  which  in  turn  were  filled  to  overflowing 
and  hundreds  were  added  to  the  church  daily. 

The  Kansas  City  meeting  was  under  like  au- 
spices, and  must  have  warmed  the  heart  of  Moody 
to  overflowing,  while  it  reminded  him  of  his  work 
in  the  'yo's  in  like  halls  under  the  same  conditions. 
He  went  from  there,  via  his  beloved  family  home, 
to  his  home  above,  and  his  translation  should 
find  his  mantle  falling  on  many  consecrated 
ministers  and  laymen  ready  to  work  for  such  a  re- 
vival, as  in  1857  first  called  Mr.  Moody  into 
Christian  work. 

If  there  ever  was  a  time  when  the  cause  of 
Christ  needed  consecrated  men — ministers  and 
laymen — it  is  now,  when  agnosticism  and  higher 
criticism  of  Christ  and  the  Bible  are  rampant,  and 
when  Dowieism  and  Christian  Science  pretend 
to  enthrone  Christ  and  the  Bible,  while  every  ef- 
fort of  the  leaders  in  them,  indicates  that  filthy 
lucre,  and  not  the  honor  of  the  Master,  was  the 
inspiration  of  those  efforts. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  be  with  Mr.  Moody  in  his 
last  meeting  in  Liverpool.  It  was  here  that  some 
one  suggested  that  coffee-houses  could  be  made 
to  take  the  places  of  the  saloons  in  that  city.  He 
at  once  saw  a  few  Liverpool  friends,  on  the  plat- 
form, and  then  and  there  he  proposed  to  the  audi- 


Early  Recollections  oj  Moody  59 

ence  that  a  stock  company  be  formed  to  operate 
coffee-houses,  and  before  the  meeting  was  over, 
the  scheme  was  an  accomplished  fact  as  to  a 
program  there  formulated,  and  was  carried  out 
after  he  left  the  city,  and  to-day  stands  as  another 
monument  of  his  tact  and  genius  in  seizing  op- 
portunities in  the  line  of  doing  good  to  men.  We 
came  home  together  and  the  Atlantic  was  like  a 
mill  pond  all  the  way  over.  It  seemed  as  though 
the  spiritual  serenity  he  had  left  on  land,  had 
stilled  the  waves  in  token  of  God's  endorsement 
of  the  work  he  had  done.  Not  so  in  an  after  pas- 
sage, in  which  I  was  not  with  him,  when  for  days 
the  ship  seemed  doomed,  and  all  on  board. 
Whether  an  angel  appeared  to  him,  as  to  Paul  in  a 
similar  experience  is  not  recorded,  but  I  learned 
that  he  held  services  with  the  passengers  and  crew, 
and  contrary  to  all  expectations  (as  they  had 
drifted  away  from  their  course),  a  ship  came  in  sight 
and  took  them  all  safe  to  land.  Thus  God  takes 
care  of  his  own  until  their  work  is  done  on  earth. 
While  engaged  in  Bible  study  on  this  first  trip 
to  England,  he  became  acquainted  with  a  con- 
verted Manchester  thief,  who  had  made  great 
progress  in  such  study,  and  who  wished  to  come 
to  America  with  Mr.  Moody.  He  was  so  unat- 
tractive, personally,  and  of  very  small  stature, 
that  Mr.  Moody  would  not  encourage  him,  and 
purposely  did  not  let  him  know  the  vessel  in  which 
he  was  to  sail. 


60  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

Soon  after  his  arrival  in  Chicago,  he  received  a 
letter  from  this  man,  with  the  information  that  he 
would  be  with  him  in  Chicago  on  the  Saturday 
following. 

Mr.  Moody  was  going  to  the  country  that  day, 
and  told  his  wife  of  this  unexpected  encumbrance, 
but  added,  "Ask  him  to  preach  on  Sunday  and  see 
what  there  is  in  him  before  I  return."  She  did  so, 
and  he  took  for  his  text,  John  3:16,  "God  so 
loved,"  etc.  He  was  asked  to  continue  every 
night  for  a  week,  until  Mr.  Moody's  return,  and 
every  night  he  would  say,  "I  have  been  looking 
for  a  better  text,  but  I  cannot  find  one,  so  I  shall 
take  John  3:16." 

In  closing  his  last  sermon  before  Mr.  Moody's 
return,  he  said:  "It  will  take  all  eternity  to  unfold 
the  love  of  God  to  a  poor  sinner  like  me." 

Harry  Morehouse,  for  months  and  years  after 
this,  at  different  times,  was  one  of  Mr.  Moody's 
Bible  teachers.  Surely  his  first  trip  to  England 
was  foreordained  in  more  ways  than  he  ever 
dreamed  of,  as  the  forerunner  to  his  second,  in 
which  his  Bible  study  culminated  in  fruit,  such 
as  God  only  can  put  on  the  branches  in  the  true 
vine,  by  and  through  such  study,  condensed  into 
active  Christian  work. 

A  LONDON  INCIDENT 

In  one  of  the  monster  London  meetings  the 
son  of  a  rich  Bombay  merchant  rose  for  prayer 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  61 

at  the  close,  and  became  a  Christian.  He  was  an 
Eton  student,  and  immediately  set  about  having 
Mr.  Moody  preach  to  the  Eton  students.  The 
effort  was  foiled  by  the  teachers.  Nothing 
daunted,  this  young  man  engaged  a  lawn,  sur- 
rounded by  a  high  brick  wall,  for  the  meetings, 
and  the  students  heard  Moody  preach.  This  in- 
cident was  heralded  all  over  Great  Britain  by  the 
papers.  A  non-conformist,  unordained  man 
preaching  to  the  scions  of  wealth  and  royalty  of 
Eton  college,  in  nature's  grand  cathedral,  fres- 
coed with  stars  and  carpeted  with  one  of  Eton's 
beautiful  lawns,  was  a  great  event  for  even  Great 
Britain. 


MR.  MOODY  AND  HIS  MUSIC 

While  Mr.  Moody  could  sing  but  one  note,  he 
was  very  fond  of  the  best  religious  music  and 
hymns,  and  always  sought  and  obtained  such  as 
would  at  once  strike  the  masses  with  their  needs, 
as  well  as  the  remedy.  Of  all  the  men  that  he  de- 
pended on  for  such  hymns  and  music,  Mr.  P.  P. 
Bliss  stood  at  the  head,  as  he  had  furnished  the 
staple  music,  and  some  of  the  best  hymns  used  by 
Mr.  Sankey  in  their  English  evangelistic  campaign. 

During  the  Chicago  tabernacle  meetings,  at  his 
hotel  dinner,  where  perhaps  a  dozen  friends  were 
dining  with  Mr.  Moody,  he  was  very  depressed  and 
silent.  Some  one  asked  what  troubled  him.  He 
answered,  "I  do  not  know,  but  something  terrible 
is  going  to  happen." 

The  next  morning  a  telegram  was  received 
from  Ashtabula,  saying  that  Mr.  Bliss  and  his 
wife  were  killed  in  the  terrible  railroad  accident 
and  fire  that  occurred  there.  A  commission  pro- 
ceeded at  once  to  the  scene  but  could  find  no  trace 
of  either  Mr.  Bliss  or  his  wife.  They  had  actually 
gone  up  in  a  chariot  of  fire. 

Mr.  Moody  was  obliged  now  to  depend  on  God, 
for  his  music,  as  well  as  other  means  of  carrying 
on  his  work,  and  again  he  was  equal  to  the  oc- 
casion. 

"Men  may  be  taken  away,  but  God  lives." 
62 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  63 

A  SIMILAR  INCIDENT  IN  MR.  LINCOLN'S  LIFE 

At  Mr.  Lincoln's  last  cabinet  meeting,  and  just 
after  the  surrender  of  Lee's  armies,  he  made  the 
same  remark  to  one  of  his  cabinet  before  the  ses- 
sion, " Something  terrible  is  going  to  happen.  I 
had  a  dream  last  night  just  such  as  I  have  had 
before  all  our  greatest  reverses."  The  cabinet 
proceeded  with  its  business,  and  he  was  invited 
that  day  to  go  to  the  theater  in  the  evening,  to 
divert  his  mind  from  the  terrible  strain  (now  re- 
lieved by  victories)  but  depressed  with  this  pre- 
sentiment, and  there  met  his  death  at  the  hands 
of  an  assasin. 

An  angry  mob  was  about  to  hang  some  men  in 
New  York  the  next  day,  who  said  "they  were  glad 
of  it."  Here  it  was  that  Garfield  (who  was  to 
meet  the  same  fate  as  president  of  the  United 
States)  was  called  on  to  address  the  crowd,  and 
said:  "Lay  violent  hands  on  no  man.  Lincoln 
is  dead,  but  God  lives  to  vindicate  righteous- 
ness." 

Over  $1,000,000  in  royalties  from  hymn  books 
and  his  own  publications,  shows  how  Providence 
provides  money  as  well  as  men  to  supplement 
man's  deficient  beneficence  and  depleted  ranks, 
in  such  work  as  Mr.  Moody's  to  raise  not  only  the 
common  people,  but  the  dead  among  the  rich  in 
the  harvest  of  Christ's  eternal  life  and  riches. 

Here  is  one  hymn  sung  in  the  Illinois  Street 
Church  (as  a  sample)  and  the  one  which  roused 


64  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

Charley  Morton's  attention  to  the  fact  that  none 
were  too  low  for  the  love  and  attention  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  and  of  Mr.  Moody  in  his  mission  work : 

Do  you  know  any  little  barefoot  boy 

In  garret  or  in  cellar 
Who  shivers  with  cold  and  his  garments  old 

Will  scarcely  hold  together? 

Chorus 

Go  bring  him  in,  there  is  room  to  spare; 
Here  are  food  and  shelter  and  pity ; 

And  we'll  not  shut  the  door 

'Gainst  one  of  Christ's  poor 
Though  you  bring  every  child  in  the  city. 

Do  you  know  any  tired  little  girl, 

Whose  feet  with  cold  are  aching; 
Whose  shrinking  form  braves  the  winter's  storm, 

The  alms  of  the  richer  taking? 

Go  bring  her  in,  etc. 

Go  gather  them  in  from  the  tenement  house, 

And  the  merchant's  stately  palace; 
From  the  world's  dark  strife,  and  the  heavenly  life, 

Let  them  drink  from  the  golden  chalice. 

Go  bring  them  in,  etc. 

'Tis  the  Master's  work;  there  is  none  so  low, 
But  his  loving  hand  may  reach  them, 

And  there's  none  so  sunken  in  want  and  woe 
But  we'll  joy  to  help  and  teach  them. 

Go  bring  them  in,  etc. 


REAL  START  OF  Y.  M.  C.  A. 

While  it  is  freely  admitted  that  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  was  the  child  of  the  great 
revival  of  1857-58,  it  is  true  that  as  such  it  was 
the  fitting  educator  of  Mr.  Moody  for  his  life 
work  in  uniting  Christians  of  all  denominations  at 
home  and  abroad,  with  Chicago  as  its  center. 
The  bells  of  the  great  fire  of  1871  were  ringing 
while  he  was  preaching  in  Farwell  hall  from  this 
text,  "This  one  thing  I  do,"  etc.  The  next  morn- 
ing his  own  home,  the  Illinois  Street  Church,  and 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  building, 
all  of  them  the  pride  of  his  life,  were  nothing  but 
ashes,  and  then  it  was  that  he  heard  the  Mace- 
donian cry,  "Come  over  and  help  us,"  from  two 
faithful  ministers  who  had  previously  invited  him 
to  England  to  do  evangelistic  work  under  their 
guidance  and  with  their  help. 

EJECTION  OF  A  DISTURBER 
I  remember  a  striking  incident  in  the  opera 
house,  where  a  meeting  of  young  me  nunder  the 
auspices  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  was  held.  A  drunken 
man,  whenever  Mr.  Moody  referred  to  John, 
Mark,  or  Luke,  repeated  in  a  loud  voice,  "Say  St. 
John,  sir."  This  was  done  several  times,  when 
Mr.  Moody  ordered  the  man  removed.  Lord 
Quinard  and  Quintin  Hogg  of  his  committee  did 

65 


66  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

the  work,  while  Mr.  Moody  called  on  the  audience 
to  rise  and  sing  a  spirited  hymn,  and  then  re- 
marked, "I  had  this  done  for  the  good  of  the  man 
as  well  as  the  audience,"  and  then  went  on  with 
his  sermon  as  though  nothing  had  happened.  At 
the  close  of  the  meeting  the  inquiry  room  was 
rilled.  Nothing  seemed  to  disturb  his  equa- 
nimity, and,  being  an  on-looker  from  the  gallery, 
I  never  admired  his  wonderful  tact  as  I  did  at  that 
time. 

The  question  has  often  been  asked  where  did 
Moody  get  the  means  to  do  so  much?  He  only 
knows  fully  who  said :  "The  silver  and  the  gold  are 
mine."  When  he  went  to  London  a  friend  gave 
him  a  check  the  day  he  left,  and  learned  afterwards 
he  could  not  have  gone  without  it.  In  London 
one  of  his  admirers  said  to  me,  "How  can  I  get 
one  thousand  dollars  into  Moody's  hand  without 
offending  him?"  He  never  would  allow  any  one 
to  canvass  for  money  for  his  personal  use.  As  the 
tabernacle  in  the  wilderness  was  built  with  free- 
will offerings,  so  Mr.  Moody's  personal  expenses 
have  always  been  made  up  of  free-will  offerings, 
until  the  publication  of  his  books  gave  him  a  large 
income,  and  I  learn  from  others  that  this  has 
nearly  all  gone  into  his  Northfield  schools.  The 
inspiration  of  his  example  should  endow  them 
for  all  time.  His  humility  was  only  discounted 
by  his  intense  earnestness  and  distinguished 
ability — usually  called  common  sense — but  not 


Early  Recollections  oj  Moody  67 

near  so  common  as  one  could  wish.  Here  is  a 
notable  incident:  When  the  first  association 
hall  was  dedicated,  he  learned  or  surmised  that 
George  H.  Stuart,  the  chairman,  was  to  propose 
that  the  hall  be  named  Moody  hall.  To  prevent 
this,  Mr.  Moody  took  the  floor,  and  to  my  utter 
surprise  proposed  after  a  short  and  impressive 
appeal,  that  the  hall  be  named  Farwell  hall.  Per- 
haps the  present  hall  has  providentially  been 
without  a  name  until  Mr.  Moody  was  translated, 
the  trustees  knowing  that  he  would  not,  while 
alive,  consent  to  have  his  name  anywhere  except 
in  the  hearts  of  mankind  whom  he  served. 

Now  that  he  has  gone  and  the  world  is  practi- 
cally girdled  with  Y.  M.  C.  A.  halls,  would  it  not 
be  an  extremely  wise  and  appropriate  act  to 
name  the  first  of  such  buildings  after  the  man 
whose  consecrated  life  enabled  him  to  command 
the  influence  among  Christian  men  necessary  to  its 
erection? 


THE   MOODY   AND    SANKEY   CONVEN- 
TION 

(From  The  Independent.) 

"OuR  YOUNG  MEN — WHAT  MORE  CAN  WE  DO 

FOR  THEM?" 

This  question,  one  of  the  most  important  that 
came  before  the  convention  of  ministers  and  lay- 
men called  by  Messrs.  Moody  and  Sankey  in  the 
interests  of  aggressive  Christian  work,  was  one  of 
the  subjects  upon  which  Mr.  Moody  might  rea- 
sonably have  been  expected  to  speak  himself  with 
more  than  usual  earnestness,  by  all  who  are  at  all 
acquainted  with  his  work.  Instead  of  this,  with 
his  business  tact,  he  called  on  John  Wanamaker, 
of  Philadelphia,  to  open  the  discussion,  whose 
wonderful  business  ability,  as  one  of  the  Centennial 
committee  of  that  city,  has  manifested  itself  not 
only  in  putting  life  into  that  greatest  of  public 
enterprises  that  has  ever  in  civic  affairs  engaged 
the  attention  of  our  people  to  cement  the  bonds 
of  our  blood-bought  Union,  but,  at  the  same  time, 
as  president  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  As- 
sociation, has  projected  for  its  occupancy  the 
finest  building  in  the  world  for  such  a  purpose, 
which  will  be  thrown  open  to  the  public  on  the  an- 
niversary of  our  national  existence.  It  is  the 

most  fitting  emblem  of  the  real  solid  basis  upon 
68 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  69 

which  our  free  government  must  withstand  the 
assaults  of  infidelity,  ignorance  and  superstition. 
As  might  be  expected,  such  a  speaker  could  do 
nothing  less  than  to  answer  this  important  ques- 
tion with  an  exhortation  to  the  churches  to  en- 
courage by  every  means  possible  the  work  of 
Young  Men's  Christian  Associations,  and  to 
watch  over  and  guide  them  with  all  the  wisdom 
and  prudence  at  their  command. 

This  is  Christian  wisdom,  which  in  civil  affairs 
would  be  called  real  statesmanship,  for  it  looks 
into  the  foundations  of  the  Christian  Church  and 
recognizes  the  necessity  of  a  practical  recognition 
of  the  essential  unity  of  Christ's  body,  by  what- 
ever name  its  different  members  are  called.  Mr. 
Moody's  good  sense  in  calling  upon  him  is  further 
demonstrated  in  the  fact  that  Mr.  Wanamaker 
is  a  living  example  of  the  advice  he  sought  to  en- 
force upon  that  vast  audience  of  the  best  talent 
of  our  land. 

That  Mr.  Moody  did  not  open  this  subject  him- 
self may  be  further  accounted  for  in  the  fact  that 
the  results  of  his  labors,  added  to  the  faithful  seed- 
sowing  of  such  an  audience  as  he  had  before  him, 
wherever  he  has  been,  in  large  cities,  has  culmi- 
nated, either  in  aiding  a  building  enterprise  for 
Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  already  be- 
gun or  in  inaugurating  one  upon  a  firm  spiritual 
and  financial  basis.  The  spirit  of  revival  is  the 
spirit  of  union,  as  such  facts  abundantly  show. 


70  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

I  well  remember  the  sorrow  that  filled  the  hearts 
of  the  Chicago  friends  of  the  Association  when 
their  commodious  building  (the  first  of  its  kind 
in  the  world)  was  the  second  time  reduced  to 
ashes,  in  the  great  fire  of  1871. 

One  of  the  projectors  of  that  enterprise,  while 
the  ruins  were  still  smoking,  wrote  to  a  friend  at 
the  East  concerning  the  great  calamity  that  had 
fallen  upon  the  city,  declaring  that  "those  ashes 
were  sown  by  our  Heavenly  Father,  and  that, 
therefore,  the  seed  was  good."  How  has  that 
prophesy  been  fulfilled  in  demonstration  of  the 
proposition  therein  contained?  The  burning 
of  that  building  deprived  the  evangelists  of  their 
place  of  holding  meetings  in  Chicago,  and  de- 
termined them  to  go  to  England  until  it  should 
be  rebuilt.  The  world  knows  the  result  in  the 
spirit  of  revival  that  went  with  and  followed 
them.  And  in  the  large  cities  of  England  and 
Scotland  that  seed  has  sprung  up  in  magnificent 
buildings  for  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations, 
as  the  legitimate  fruit. 

Those  men,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  have  at  the  conclusion  of  their  labors  in 
each  city  held  a  meeting  to  test  the  genuineness 
of  results;  and  the  God  of  the  i7th  chapter  of 
John  has  met  them  on  the  platform  and  crystal- 
lized their  efforts  in  enduring  monuments  rep- 
resenting the  normal  condition  of  all  who  love  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity  and  in  truth.  New 


Early  Recollections  0}  Moody  71 

York  has  its  building,  the  second  one  built  in 
America;  but  this  will  not  hinder  something  of  a 
like  character  taking  place  in  New  York.  And 
then  most  appropriately  Mr.  Moody  can  speak 
as  one  who  knows  whereof  he  affirms  when  he 
shall,  through  another  added  monument  of  living 
witnesses  to  the  power  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ 
which  he  preaches,  say  to  the  churches  of  the 
United  States,  in  the  spirit  of  John  Wanamaker's 
speech:  "Encourage  Young  Men's  Christian 
Associations." 

Watch  over  them  in  love,  and  thus  perpetuate 
the  union  with  which  we  have  labored  and  prayed 
in  the  work  of  saving  young  men.  Then  shall 
this  centennial  year  be  but  the  harbinger  and  pre- 
lude to  the  millennial  years,  when  "the  govern- 
ment shall  be  upon  His  shoulders."  And  all 
envyings  and  strifes  shall  cease  in  the  unbroken 
harmony  of  a  perfectly  saved  Church,  melted  into 
the  spirit  of  our  common  Master. 

For  such  union  in  Christian  effort  let  us  all  pray 
and  labor;  and  then  we  can  "show  our  faith  by 
our  works,"  in  just  as  many  buildings  as  the 
young  men  of  our  country  may  need,  that  the 
Universal  Church  may  exhibit  to  an  unbelieving 
world  that  the  power  of  Christianity,  like  leaven, 
is  unifying  its  adherents,  and  thus  destroying  one 
of  the  Devil's  strongest  arguments  against  its 
utility. 


72  Early  Recollections  o)  Moody 

LOVE  WAS  MOODY'S  MASTER  MOTIVE 

Professor  Drummond  who  was  largely  inter- 
ested in  organizing  poor  boy's  brigades  from  the 
lowest  classes  in  England  and  Scotland,  learned 
in  Mr.  Moody's  meetings  in  London  to  love  and 
follow  this  great  leader.  He  then  had  charge  of 
a  young  men's  meeting  in  a  large  tent,  Mr.  Moody 
urging  the  young  men  after  his  services  to  gather 
there  and  listen  to  Professor  Drummond,  whose 
little  booklet,  "Love,  the  Greatest  Thing  in  the 
World,"  has  had  a  marvelous  sale.  I  was  with 
Mr.  Drummond  in  these  meetings  and  went  with 
him  for  a  ten  days'  trip  in  Switzerland  when  they 
were  over. 

I  remember  one  little  boy  who  walked  three 
miles  every  Sunday  to  the  Illinois  Street  Sunday 
School,  and  when  asked  why  he  came  so  far, 
when  there  was  a  Sunday  School  near  his  home, 
his  reply  was  "They  love  a  fellow  over 
here." 

Since  Mr.  Moody's  death,  a  splendid  looking 
six-foot  Irishman,  now  an  evangelist,  and  rilled 
with  the  Spirit,  in  an  address  in  Willard  Hall,  re- 
ferred to  Mr.  Moody  and  the  North  Market  Hall 
Sunday  School,  as  his  good  angel  of  love  to  the  poor 
boy,  who  is  now  a  burning  and  a  shining  light  in 
this  great  city. 

"God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only 
begotten  Son  that  whosoever  believeth  on  him 
should  not  perish  but  have  everlasting  life." 


Early  Recollections  oj  Moody  73 

Truly,  "Love  is  the  greatest  thing  in  this  world," 
— as  Drummond  says — or  in  any  other  world. 

BRIDEWELL  WORK 

As  president  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  Mr.  Moody 
organized  work  in  the  City  Bridewell,  which 
was  continued  every  Sunday  until  moved  from 
Polk  Street  and  the  river  to  its  present  location. 
I  was  given  charge  of  his  work,  but  Mr.  Moody, 
"Charley  Morton,"  Bishop  Ames,  and  many 
others  were  among  those  who  took  part  in  the 
services.  Such  hymns  as  the  one  before  men- 
tioned and  the  work  done  there  were  the  means  of 
saving  many  of  the  inmates. 

One  was  the  son  of  wealthy  parents  in  Ireland, 
and  from  the  delirium  tremens  to  the  Cross  was 
a  short  road  for  him.*  I  lost  sight  of  him,  but 
during  the  war  the  man  turned  up  in  my  store  one 
day,  on  his  way  to  Michigan  to  be  married,  and 
went  to  the  Bridewell  in  his  right  mind,  and  gave 
the  prisoners  a  very  appropriate  address.  What 
a  transformation !  He  will  thank  Mr.  Moody  on 
the  other  side  for  organizing  the  Bridewell  work. 

Charley  Morton  tells  this  story  of  one  of  his 
addresses  in  the  Bridewell.  "Mr.  Farwell  said 
to  me,  'When  you  have  said  enough  I  will  pull 
your  coat/  I  began  thus:  'My  friends,  I  am 
glad  to  see  so  many  of  you  here  this  morning,'  and 
immediately  Mr.  Farwell  pulled  my  coat." 

*I  employed  him  as  a  watchman  at  my  new  house  on  Wabash 
Avenue,  until  it  was  done,  and  then  he  went  south  as  an  engineer. 


MOODY'S  BIBLE  INSTITUTE 

It  is  no  wonder  that  Mr.  Moody  greatly  desired 
in  view  of  his  own  experience,  to  inaugurate  a 
school  that  would  provide  a  corps  of  lay  workers 
as  well  as  pastors,  teachers  and  evangelists,  that 
should  have  a  thorough  practical  bible  training. 
No  other  sword,  without  "the  sword  of  the  spirit," 
was  in  his  estimation  of  effective  value,  while  with 
this,  every  natural  or  acquired  ability  would  be 
energized  for  successful  work. 

Subscriptions  were  started  with  only  a  few 
names,  among  them  an  old  friend  for  $100,000 
and  Mr.  McCormick  for  $25,000  and  since  then 
I  am  very  sorry  to  say  that  very  little  compara- 
tively has  been  done  in  Chicago — financially — for 
this  most  worthy  school  of  the  prophets,  which  this 
modern  Elisha  organized,  and  since  then  has 
maintained  largely  from  royalties  from  the  sale  of 
his  own  books.  The  students  who  attend  this 
school  are  mostly  employed  to  reach  the  un- 
churched masses  in  various  ways,  many  of  them 
as  hired  house  to  house  visitors  for  Chicago 
churches.  Surely  the  material  interests  of  this 
great  city  and  country  cannot  be  better  served 
than  to  send  an  army  of  Bible  trained  men  and 
women  taken  from  the  middle  and  lower  classes, 
to  begin  at  the  bottom  of  society,  where  Mr. 

74 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  75 

Moody  began  his  work,  to  elevate  them  to  be  heirs 
of  the  King.  Such  institutions  should  have  the 
support  of  all  our  business  men,  as  a  matter  of 
self-interest,  as  well  as  of  Christian  duty  and 
privilege. 

There  was  one  commendable  exception  to 
Chicago  apathy  in  giving  financial  aid  to  this 
worthy  school  of  the  Prophets,  in  Mrs.  C.  H. 
McCormick.  Recognizing  its  importance,  she 
sent  to  this  Institution  $1,000  monthly  in  1898 
for  its  support.  Would  to  God  there  were  more 
such  women  who  in  the  days  of  Christ's  earthly 
ministry  "ministered  unto  Him  of  their  sub- 
stance," in  His  evangelistic  tours. 

Before  Mr.  Moody  was  married  and  after  he 
had  given  up  business  to  engage  in  the  Lord's 
work,  he  had  at  one  time  spent  all  his  accumula- 
tions in  that  channel,  until  he  was  in  actual  want 
of  the  necessaries  of  life.  It  was  then  I  urged 
him — as  I  had  before — to  take  a  regular  salary  as 
secretary  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  This  he  stead- 
fastly refused,  saying,  "If  the  Lord  wants  me  in 
His  work,  I  wish  to  be  absolutely  free  to  follow 
His  leadings,  and  let  Him  provide  for  my  needs." 

He  never,  after  that  test  of  his  faith  (to  my 
knowledge)  wanted  for  any  of  the  necessaries  of 
life,  until  he  went  to  see  His  master  where  want 
never  shows  its  ghostly  face. 


MR.  MOODY  WAS  THE  PRESENT  DAY 
APOSTLE  OF  CHRISTIAN  UNION 

He  was  this,  first,  in  enlisting  from  all  evan- 
gelical churches,  teachers  for  his  North  Market 
Hall  Mission  Sunday  School. 

Second,  in  inviting  converts  of  the  Revival  of 
1857-8,  in  making  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  a  living  factor 
in  educating  young  men  of  all  the  churches  in 
active  Christian  work. 

Third,  in  inviting  all  the  converts  of  his  Sunday 
Schools,  and  others  into  a  church  organized  by 
all  the  pastors  of  Evangelical  churches,  (except 
the  Episcopal  Church)  under  a  short  creed,  mak- 
ing faith  in  the  Bible  and  in  Christ  as  a  personal 
Savior,  the  sum  and  substance  of  God's  require- 
ments for  membership  in  Christ's  body. 

Fourth,  in  his  world-wide  evangelistic  work, 
under  such  auspices  as  made  the  man  what  he 
was  in  every  good  word  and  work. 

As  indicating  the  spirit  of  the  man  in  the  in- 
cipiency  of  his  marvelous  work  in  England,  I 
copy  his  last  letter  before  leaving  New  York  for 
England  and  his  first  after  beginning  his  labors : 

NEW  YORK,  June  7,  1873. 

My  dear  Mr.  Farwell:    I    called   on   Mr.    Dodge 
this  morning  and  he  says  he  is  coming  to  Chicago 
soon,  and  I  hope  you  will  speak  to  him  about  our 
76 


Early  Recollections  oj  Moody  77 

Church.  He  promised  to  help,  but  I  thought  I 
would  not  say  anything  to  him  about  it,  as  he  was 
coming  out  to  Chicago,  but  I  think  he  would  give 
$5,000  if  you  lay  it  out  before  him  in  good  shape.  I 
am  off  in  a  few  minutes  for  England,  and  I  do  hope 
you  will  pray  for  me  that  this  may  be  the  most  profit- 
able trip  of  my  life.  I  have  great  hopes  of  a  harvest. 
Your  prayers  will  cheer  me. 

I  want  to  thank  you  for  the  $500  (This  is  the  check 
handed  to  him  when  he  handed  me  the  Bagster  Bible). 
I  can't  tell  you  how  I  appreciate  it,  and  all  your  acts 
of  love  and  kindness.  It  is  a  wonder  to  me  at  times, 
and  I  do  not  see  why  you  do  not  get  sick  of  me  and 
cast  me  off.  The  more  I  know  of  myself,  the  less  I 
think  of  myself. 

Good  bye,  from  your  old  friend, 

D.  L.  MOODY. 

Humility  was  always  Mr.  Moody's  open  door 
to  God's  fullness  of  blessing  on  his  work. 

HOME  BARRIERS  BURNED  AWAY,  FOR  SECOND 
TRIP  TO  ENGLAND 

There  was  a  time  when  one  of  Mr.  Moody's 
old  friends  gave  him  a  house,  rent  free.  This 
friend  requested  the  great  artist,  G.  P.  A.  Healy, 
to  paint — free  of  charge, — Mr.  Moody's  portrait, 
and  another  artist  to  paint  Mrs.  Moody,  to  adorn 
the  walls  of  the  drawing  room. 

Together  with  other  friends,  the  house  was  fur- 
nished throughout,  and  the  great  Sunday  School 
and  Y.  M.  C.  A.  leader  and  his  better  half  were 


78  Early  Recollections  0}  Moody 

invited  to  take  possession.  Of  course  they  were 
greatly  pleased  and  surprised,  as  each  beheld  the 
other's  portrait,  together  with  all  the  other  fur- 
nishings of  their  future  home. 

When  the  great  fire  came,  Mr.  Moody  hurried 
home  from  his  service  in  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and 
procured  a  carriage  just  in  time  to  take  the  family 
to  a  place  of  safety,  and  also  at  Mrs.  Moody's 
persistent  request  the  Healy  portrait  of  her  hus- 
band, which  adorns  the  Northfield  home,  and 
thus  the  free  gift  of  a  great  artist  has  become 
priceless,  as  the  only  memento  of  the  ashes  of  that 
home,  and  of  that  hasty  flight. 

The  destruction  of  this  home,  was  as  much  per- 
haps, as  that  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  building  and  the 
Illinois  Street  Church,  the  reason  for  Mr.  Moody's 
great  evangelistic  tour  in  England.  He  left  the 
£shes  of  one  great  city  to  make  London — in  due 
time  (the  greatest  city  in  the  world)  the  foun- 
dation as  well  as  the  capstone,  physically  speaking 
— of  his  evangelistic  pyramid,  which  will  last 
longer  than  the  pyramids  of  Egypt,  because  built 
on  Christ  as  chief  cornerstone,  with  the  unseen 
things  of  the  spiritual  kingdom  in  every  living 
stone  that  has  been,  and  will  be  built  into  it 
through  his  ministry,  until  time  shall  be  no  more. 

While  it  is  true  that  the  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  was  the  child  of  the  great  revival 
of  1857-8,  it  is  also  true  that  as  such,  it  was  the 
fitting  educator  of  Mr.  Moody  for  his  life  work  in 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  79 

uniting  Christians  of  all  denominations  at  home 
and  abroad  in  evangelistic  work  with  Chicago  as 
its  center.  The  bells  of  the  great  fire  in  1871 
were  ringing  while  he  was  preaching  in  Farwell 
Hall  from  this  text,  "This  one  thing  I  do,"  etc. 
As  soon  as  he  had  again  started  his  Sunday 
School  in  a  tabernacle  of  boards,  taking  Mr.  San- 
key,  they  sailed  for  Liverpool,  and  on  arrival  as- 
certained that  the  two  ministers  who  had  extended 
the  call,  were  in  their  graves.  Thus  left  to  de- 
pend entirely  upon  divine  help  and  guidance,  Mr. 
Moody  began  his  work  which  culminated  in  Lon- 
don, where  two  immense  iron  tabernacles  were 
built  in  the  south  and  east  of  London,  each  hold- 
ing 12,000  people.  The  Agricultural  Hall  in  the 
north  of  London  was  also  used,  with  a  capacity 
of  25,000  and  the  Grand  Opera  House  for  the 
west  or  court  end  of  London,  completed  the  circuit 
of  his  great  meeting  places. 


LETTERS  FROM  AND  TO  MR.  MOODY 

CONCERNING  HIS  WORK  IN 

ENGLAND 

YORK,  England,  June  30,  1873. 
My  dear  Mr.  Farwell:  You  will  see  by  the  heading 
of  this  note  that  I  am  in  York.  I  commenced  here 
one  week  ago  yesterday  (Sunday)  and  have  had  splen- 
did success  so  far.  Yesterday  I  had  four  meetings. 
They  were  large  and  I  think  very  profitable.  God 
was  with  us.  I  preached  in  the  morning,  "They  that 
be  wise  shall  shine," — afternoon,  "No  difference," 
and  two  in  the  evening  from  the  text,  "The  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  is  upon  me  because  he  has  anointed  me  to 
preach  the  Gospel."  Sankey  sang  the  hymns  finely, 
all  seemed  to  be  much  pleased  with  it.  I  think  he  is 
going  to  do  much  good  here.  All  the  chapels  are  open 
to  us,  and  invitations  are  coming  in  from  all  over  the 
country  for  us,  and  I  think  we  will  have  all  we  can  do 
here.  I  think  of  you  all,  and  get  fearfully  homesick  at 
times.  I  hope  you  are  being  blessed  in  your  own 
soul.  I  wish  you  would  keep  me  posted  in  regard  to 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  building  and  all  about  the  stock.  I 
would  like  to  see  a  good  building  go  up  there  for 
Christ.  I  do  not  see  any  better  opportunity  to  work 
for  Christ  than  in  that  field.  I  do  not  know  what  is  to 
become  of  the  Y.  M.  in  England  and  America,  if 
something  of  the  kind  is  not  done.  The  Y.  M.  of 
this  country  have  nearly  all  gone  off  into  the  world. 
I  send  you  some  flower  seeds.  I  think  the  one  marked 
1/6  is  beautiful  and  never  have  seen  anything  in  Amer- 
80 


Early  Recollections  oj  Moody  81 

ica  like  it.    I  hope  you  will  have  success  with  them. 
Remember  me  to  Wells  and  all  your  family. 
Yours  thro'  the  grace  of  God, 

D.  L.  MOODY. 

After  this  no  letters  came  from  Mr.  Moody  on 
account  of  the  demands  on  his  time, — only  papers 
were  sent,  to  which  I  replied  as  follows: 

Nov.  25,  1873. 

Dear  Mr.  Moody:  I  have  heard  from  you  through 
the  papers  only  of  late,  from  which  I  infer  that  your 
work  fills  up  your  time  and  soul  to  the  full,  for  which 
I  have  no  doubt  you  are  constrained  to  thank  God 
and  take  courage,  the  results  proving  that  He  has 
been  working  with  you  by  His  mighty  power,  in  the 
hearts  and  consciences  of  multitudes. 

Jacobs  tells  me  that  you  expect  to  stay  a  year  longer 
at  least.  I  also  infer  that  the  voice  has  been  heard 
from  here,  "Come  over  and  help  us."  The  noon 
meetings  are  growing  in  interest.  The  great  King 
had  seemed  again  to  say  to  all  of  the  stewards  of 
God's  mercies,  "Lay  not  up  for  yourselves  treasures 
on  earth,"  etc.,  to  call  them  afresh  to  renewed  faith- 
fulness in  His  cause.  We  are  largely  in  the  frosts  of 
winter,  spiritually,  yet  the  fields  apparently  white  for 
the  harvest,  and  the  laborers  debating  as  to  whether 
they  have  any  authority  to  thrust  in  the  sickle. 

It  looks  to  me  as  though  the  enemy  had  been  driven 
out  of  England  and  sent  to  America,  and  that  one  small 
imp  to  sleep  in  the  steeples  of  our  churches  as  senti- 
nels upon  captured  forts,  is  all  that  is  required. 

Remember  us  in  your  success  and  pray  that  the 


82  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

Word  of  God  may  yet  prevail  over  all  opposition  and 
send  the  devil  to  his  own  place.  I  think  of  you  often 
and  hope  to  see  you  here,  when  you  shall  have  ac- 
complished your  mission  (in  the  midst  of  the  doctors, 
lawyers  and  noblemen,  of  the  mother  country)  among 
the  common  people,  who  always  heard  Him  gladly. 
Write  when  you  have  time.  Remember  me  to  your 
better  half  and  Sankey. 

Yours  very  truly, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

Feb.  15,  1874. 

Dear  Brother  Moody:  Brother  Spafford  led  the 
noon  meeting  to-day  giving  some  account  of  the 
ministry  of  the  Gospel  committed  to  your  hands  for 
England  and  Scotland.  The  room  was  crowded  and 
all  were  intensely  interested.  You  will  be  glad  to 
know  that  your  use  of  the  Bible  was  so  set  forth  as  to 
impress  upon  all  the  blessed  efficiency  of  this  Sword 
of  the  Spirit,  as  wielded  by  faithful  hands  directed  by 
a  loving  heart  made  strong  by  a  clear  conception  of 
the  great  power  there  is  in  it.  Many  hearts  have 
been  made  sad  because  of  your  absence,  that  now  re- 
joice in  your  joy,  in  beginning  as  never  before  to 
recognize  the  leading  hand  of  the  great  leader  of 
Israel,  in  all  the  singular  Providences  that  have  com- 
bined for  you  to  see  and  accept  this  call  from  the  old 
world,  "Come  over  and  help  us."  Had  there  been 
no  fire  in  Chicago,  your  battle  ground  might  still  have 
been  here. 

It  appears  to  me  that  the  instructions  of  long  years 
in  Bible  truths,  that  you  have  had  there,  used  among 
the  people,  only  needed  (like  a  cannon  properly 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  83 

charged)  just  the  livid  match  of  fire,  to  make  it 
thunder  out  death  to  dead  works,  and  raise  up  an 
army  from  the  slain  of  the  Lord,  who  shall  delight  to 
do  his  will  in  letting  Him  work  through  them  by  his 
mighty  power. 

The  arm  of  flesh  has  been  long  enough  killing  one 
Egyptian,  only  to  learn  that  the  arm  of  the  Lord  can 
lead  the  Israel  of  God  out  of  spiritual  bondage. 
Some  learn  the  lesson  sooner  than  others,  just  because 
they  learn  to  walk  by  faith  and  not  sight  more  readily. 
I  have  learned  to  pity  those  men  whose  minds  are  so 
constructed  and  trained,  that  they  require  a  reason 
for  religious  activity,  that  shall  commend  itself  to  their 
judgment,  before  proceeding,  while  the  whole  economy 
of  the  Gospel  of  Grace  proceeds  on  the  idea  of  faith 
in  God  as  the  basis  of  action. 

Yours  in  Christ, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

EVANGELISTS 

Before  Mr.  Moody  went  to  England,  he  had  ar- 
ranged for  W.  W.  Whittle  and  Mr.  Bliss  to  do 
evangelistic  work  in  the  United  States,  as  he  and 
Sankey  intended  doing  in  England,  which  they 
did.  I  remember  Mr.  Bliss  coming  to  my  office 
for  money,  which  he  would  not  accept  as  a  gift, 
and  when  it  was  arranged  said,  "Now  Mr.  Far- 
well  let  us  both  ask  God  to  use  this  money  for  His 
own  glory  in  evangelistic  work."  While  in  Dub- 
lin he  was  still  planning  for  the  work  in  America 
and  wrote  me  as  follows : 


84  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

DUBLIN,  Nov.  14,  1874. 

Dear  Farwell:  I  do  not  know  but  that  you  will 
think  I  have  forgotten  you,  but  I  am  so  driven  I  do 
not  get  time  to  read  all  my  letters,  but  I  can  assure 
you  I  read  all  American  letters.  The  work  goes  on 
well,  increases  in  interest  every  month.  I  think  I  sent 
you  papers  telling  about  the  work.  "The  Christian" 
is  sent  to  30,000  ministers  in  the  United  Kingdom, 
and  there  seems  to  be  a  stir  among  the  dry  bones  all 
over  the  United  Kingdom.  I  hope  you  will  meet  me 
in  London,  which  will  be  in  March,  you  can  come  over 
for  two  or  three  months,  and  I  will  take  lodgings  and 
we  can  all  be  together  in  London  for  three  months, 
and  you  can  bring  some  of  your  family  with  you. 
I  am  quite  sure  you  will  enjoy  it. 

Now  about  Bliss,  he  commenced  in  April,  and  I 
sent  him  at  that  time  $1,000.  I  told  him  that  I  would 
see  that  he  got  $2,500  for  the  year  and  he  could  have 
all  he  could  make  off  the  books.  It  is  time  to  give 
him  $1,000  more.  I  want  him  and  Whittle  to  be 
kept  clear,  so  they  can  work  for  the  Lord.  I  am  con- 
fident God  is  going  to  use  them,  and  if  we  can  get 
them  well  started  this  year,  there  will  be  enough  to 
come  in  next  year  from  hymn  book  money  to  keep 
them.  I  could  raise  the  money  over  here,  if  I  should 
ask  for  it,  but  I  have  not  asked  for  one  farthing  since 
I  left  America,  and  all  I  have  given  has  been  out  of 
money  given  to  myself  for  my  own  use.  Of  course  I 
have  a  good  many  enemies  over  here,  who  say  I  am 
a  speculating  Yankee,  and  if  they  find  I  take  money 
for  America,  they  will  make  capital  out  of  it.  If  it  is 
not  convenient  for  you  to  pay  the  thousand,  I  will 
send  you  an  order  on  Holden  for  it,  but  if  you  can 


Early  Recollections  oj  Moody  85 

pay  it,  you  can  take  up  the  order;  if  not,  pass  it  over 
to  Holden. 

Yours  in  trust,  MOODY. 

He  was  not  satisfied  with  working  himself.  He 
must  provide  for  others  to  do  likewise.  Some  of 
those  were  converted  under  his  ministry  in  the 
noon  meetings. 

CHICAGO,  December  2nd,  1874. 

Dear  Brother  Moody:  I  wrote  you  a  few  days  ago 
at  Manchester,  England,  supposing  you  were  there, 
and  to-day  get  your  letter  from  Dublin.  I  have  torn 
up  your  order,  and  will  write  Mr.  Bliss  at  once  to 
draw,  as  he  wants  it,  for  one  thousand  dollars.  I 
think  he  and  Mr.  Whittle  have  been  out  of  town  only 
a  small  part  of  the  time,  until  the  past  month.  Some 
three  hundred  were  converted  in  Detroit,  and  they  are 
now  in  Pittsburg. 

I  hope  the  way  will  be  open  for  them  into  the  hearts 
of  God's  people,  and  then  sinners  will  be  converted. 
I  wrote  you  that  one  of  the  things  that  would  bring 
me  over,  would  be  to  get  a  long  loan  for  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
and  if  that  could  not  be  done,  I  should  have  one  less 
motive  to  leave  home.  My  idea  is  to  get  a  loan  long 
enough  to  enable  us  to  sell  the  Madison  Street  front  to 
pay  it,  leaving  the  hall  free  for  the  Association.  I 
have  just  returned  from  Bloomington  where  Mr. 
Burnell  had  a  three  days'  meeting  in  the  opera  house. 
It  was  full  on  Sunday,  and  on  the  whole  I  think  there 
will  be  good  come  out  of  it.  I  had  a  strange  dream 
while  there — you  and  I  were  crossing  Clark  Street 
bridge  when  it  gave  away.  I  just  caught  on  the 


86  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

wreck  and  struggled  to  the  top.  On  looking  around 
for  you,  found  you  had  sunk,  and  in  a  moment  some 
one  who  had  been  watching  where  you  went  down, 
jumped  into  the  water  just  as  you  came  up  to  the  sur- 
face, and  together  we  put  you  on  to  the  dock,  and 
began  to  roll  you  over,  when  you  threw  up  blood  with 
the  black  water,  and  I  thought  to  myself  what  a  filthy 
pool  to  fall  into,  no  wonder  his  heart's  blood  came  up 
with  it  in  protest.  I  waked  up  before  you  had  be- 
come conscious,  and  found  myself  in  a  very  excited 
condition,  and  then  in  my  waking  dreams  I  thanked 
God  that  His  almighty  arm  had  taken  you  out  of  a 
more  dreadful  river  than  that — even  the  river  of  death 
and  corruption — and  placed  your  feet  on  a  rock,  and 
then  when  I  thought  of  the  new  song  in  your  soul,  so 
much  like  the  Master's — works,  and  not  the  melody 
of  words  set  to  music — I  could  not  help  remembering 
your  musical  attainments,  and  almost  laughed  as  I 
heard  in  memory  your  chant  on  a  single  note,  every 
hymn  that  suited  you  in  the  Illinois  Street  misson. 
If  I  had  a  bottle  of  that  real  old  river  water,  I  would 
send  it  to  you,  as  the  best  visible  and  smellable  sample 
of  original  sin  that  can  be  found. 

God  bless  and  continue  to  increase  your  usefulness 
in  hiding  a  multitude  of  sins.  The  remedy  you  preach 
is  as  powerful  as  the  disease  is  terrible. 

Best  love  to  Sankey,  Mrs.  Moody  and  yourself, 
Yours,  etc.,  JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 

Major  Cole,  Charley  Morton,  J.W.Deari,  L.  W. 

Munhall,  as  well  as  Whittle  and  others  delighted 
in  following  Mr.  Moody's  example  in  holding 
union  evangelistic  meetings  all  over  the  United 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  87 

States  before  and  after  he  left  for  England.  I 
give  here  some  letters  written  during  such  cam- 
paigns to  Mr.  Moody  and  others  to  illustrate  the 
scope  and  results  of  union  efforts : 

November,  25th,  1874. 

Dear  Brother  Moody:  I  have  been  waiting  and 
waiting  to  see  if  I  couldn't  write  you  something 
definite  about  coming  over  for  a  few  months,  but  I 
cannot  now  see  my  way  clear,  especially  as  you  say 
that  no  loans  can  be  obtained  for  the  Chicago  Y.  M.- 
C.  A.,  as  that  was  one  of  the  moving  causes  to  induce 
the  journey.  Is  the  prospect  any  better?  Our 
property  is  very  safe  from  fire  now,  well  built  and  well 
protected.  Jacobs  showed  me  a  pamphlet  by  Dr. 
Kennedy  against  revivals.  I  did  not  read  it.  I  really 
had  to  thank  God  that  the  enemy  was  obliged  to  at- 
tack the  cause  itself  rather  than  the  instrument. 

Some  Pittsburg  correspondent  has  written  a  very 
mean  letter  from  Dublin,  which  the  Tribune  copied, 
which  has  caused  quite  a  commotion  in  this  country, 
but  I  said  to  Spafford  to-day  that  I  was  glad  of  it,  as 
it  compels  papers  and  men  to  take  sides  and  procures 
a  vast  amount  of  advertising  for  the  Lord's  work 
through  the  channels  of  the  enemy,  who  don't  mean 
to  do  that. 

I  learn  that  Brooklyn  ministers  have  held  a  meeting 
preparatory  to  inviting  you  to  commence  work  in  this 
country,  which  was  noticed  in  the  Evangelist.  Brother 
Mitchell  took  the  morning  service  a  few  weeks  since 
to  tell  his  people  what  the  Lord  had  done  through 
you  and  Brother  Sankey  in  Scotland.  Professor 
Patton  did  the  same  last  Sunday,  and  several  other 


88  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

ministers  of  less  note  have  followed  them,  till  it  seems 
as  though  (as  of  old)  the  simple  statement  of  what  the 
Lord  had  done  and  is  doing,  forms  a  large  part  of  the 
staple  food  of  Christian  congregations.  This  is  well, 
much  better  than  moral  lectures,  the  marrow  of  which 
is  intellectual  entertainment,  with  which  so  many  of 
our  pulpits  have  been  struggling  to  kindle  a  spiritual 
fire,  so  vainly.  The  words  and  the  work  of  God  are 
the  bread  and  meat  of  our  spiritual  life,  and  how 
strange  that  the  Lord's  people  do  not  sooner  find  out 
what  is  best  for  them.  That  Bible  you  gave  me  is 
very  precious  to  me.  I  find  that  I  am  very  ignorant 
as  I  let  in  its  light  into  the  chambers  of  my  mind,  and 
how  weak !  I  hope  some  time  to  feel  as  David  did,  in 
my  soul,  if  I  cannot  in  words,  for  it  seems  to  me  that 
he  must  have  got  his  inspiration  to  write  as  he  did, 
while  reading  of  what  the  Lord  had  done  for  his  peo- 
ple, from  Abraham's  time  down  to  the  time  that 
Joshua  led  them  into  the  land  when  he  was  King; 
and  as  the  Spirit  told  him  that  he  and  they  were  only 
enacting  a  real  play  upon  the  great  stage  of  life,  for 
all  the  on-coming  generations  of  men,  to  represent 
the  experience  of  every  child  of  God  who  under  Christ 
should  get  out  of  Egypt  by  faith,  and  hold  on  to  God 
through  Him,  until  the  Jordan  of  death  is  behind,  and 
the  land  where  they  have  no  need  of  the  sun  before 
them. 

You  must  be  living  very  fast  now.  A  whole  life- 
time of  trial  and  preparations  crowded  into  a  few 
months  of  wonderful  victory  over  Satan,  who  has 
been  binding  the  strong  men  of  the  strongest  Zion  for 
so  many  years  by  limiting  God's  mercy  and  power, 
which  now  astonishes  the  people  as  well  as  when  of 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  89 

old  "they  were  astonished"  at  both,  and  would  not 
accept  Him  notwithstanding. 

You  must  feel  like  thanking  God  every  minute  for 
giving  you  such  a  field  to  work  in.  The  Bible  well 
read,  and  the  people  a  decided  people  to  hear  you. 
I  think  of  you  every  day  more  than  once,  and  hope 
I  feel  thankful  for  what  God  has  permitted  you  to  do 
for  me.  Still  pray  for  your  unworthy  brother.  The 
Hall  is  nearly  done  and  is  the  best  audience  room  I 
ever  saw. 

Love  to  your  family  and  Sankey, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

Mr.  Moody's  success  in  Edinburgh  and  Glas- 
gow, stirred  up  the  conservative  element  in  the 
north  of  Scotland,  which  only  wanted  Psalms 
sung,  and  no  unordained  men  to  preach  the  Gos- 
pel. This  at  last  culminated  in  a  prominent 
Doctor  of  Divinity  receiving  a  letter  from  a  Scotch- 
man in  Chicago,  of  a  scurrilous  character,  im- 
peaching the  business  and  religious  character  of 
Mr.  Moody,  which  of  course  got  into  the  hands  of 
the  Edinburgh  Committee  which  invited  Mr. 
Moody  to  Scotland.  Mr.  Moody  was  greatly  ex- 
ercised over  it,  not  on  account  of  himself,  as  his 
letter  to  me  testified,  but  on  account  of  its  results 
on  his  work  in  Scotland.  This  Committee  sent 
me  a  copy  of  the  letter  with  request  for  an  answer 
to  it. 

"All  that  will  live  godly  in  Christ  Jesus  shall 
suffer  persecution." 

This  letter  was  as  follows : 


90  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

CHICAGO,  23rd  February,  1874. 
REV.  DR.  KENNEDY. 

My  dear  Sir:  For  some  time  back  I  have  thought 
of  writing  you  with  regard  to  Messrs.  Moody  and 
Sankey,  the  two  Chicago  gentlemen  who  are  now  ex- 
citing so  much  interest  in  religious  matters  in  Scot- 
land. Seeing  by  the  Scotch  newspapers  that  they 
intend  visiting  the  North,  I  have  deemed  it  proper 
that  you  should  know  something  about  them.  More 
especially  I  have  come  to  that  conclusion,  since  having 
read  a  sketch  of  their  life  and  work  in  the  Edinburgh 
Daily  Review  of  6th  January,  which  sketch  as  regards 
Mr.  Moody  contains  various  statements  that  are  mis- 
leading and  some  that  are  positively  untrue.  Believ- 
ing as  I  do  that  this  account  is  the  inspiration  of 
Messrs.  Moody  and  Sankey,  I  look  upon  them  as  being 
responsible  for  the  misstatements  therein  contained. 
Having  shown  the  Review's  account  of  their  work  and 
influence  in  this  part  to  some  gentlemen  here  of 
honor  and  standing  who  are  intimate  acquaintances 
of  Mr.  Moody's,  they  have  declared  it  to  be  a  gross 
exaggeration,  at  the  same  time  giving  him  due  credit 
for  being  a  remarkably  zealous  and  energetic  worker. 
Mr.  Moody  came  to  Chicago  a  poor  lad  from  one  of 
the  Eastern  cities,  where  he  had  been  bred  in  the  boot 
and  shoe  trade.  His  energy  in  business  as  well  as 
in  the  interests  of  religion,  is  said  by  a  gentleman  who 
knew  him  at  the  time  to  be  remarkable.  After  having 
made  considerable  ado  about  religion,  he  called  at  the 
office  of  a  pious  and  wealthy  merchant  of  this  city 
(now  a  client  of  mine)  and  begged  of  him  as  a  friend 
and  a  Christian  to  give  him  a  place  in  his  office  as  he 
wanted  to  get  away  from  the  profanity  and  ungodli- 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  91 

ness  of  those  with  whom  he  was  compelled  to  associate 
in  his  present  situation.  This  gentlemen  appreciat- 
ing Mr.  Moody 's  commendable  scruples  took  him  into 
his  office  as  clerk.  Mr.  Moody  with  his  proverbial 
audacity  and  loud  Christian  professions  soon  worked 
himself  into  the  confidence  of  the  house.  Meantime 
his  employer  had  a  lawsuit  pending  in  the  court. 
During  the  progress  of  the  case  it  transpired  that  the 
opposing  parties  were  possessed  of  information  the 
nature  of  which  proved  its  having  been  furnished  by 
some  one  who  was  pretty  far  into  the  secrets  of  the 
house.  Suspicion  at  once  rested  on  the  saintly 
Mr.  Moody.  A  little  inquiry  proved  him  the  guilty 
man.  His  employer  privately  confronted  him  with 
the  charge  of  furnishing  regular  written  information 
in  the  interests  of  his  opponent's  case.  Moody  stoutly 
denied  the  charge.  Seeing,  however,  the  undeniable 
proof  was  in  his  employer's  possession,  he  confessed 
and  was  summarily  discharged.  Nothing  abashed 
by  this  ignominous  disclosure,  he  soon  afterwards 
publicly  declared  his  determination  to  discard  all 
worldly  pursuits,  and  to  devote  himself  wholly  to  the 
Lord's  work.  Possessed  of  great  vigour  and  un- 
limited cheek  he  very  soon  gathered  around  him  a 
band  of  followers,  many  of  whom  I  know  now  to  be 
engaged  in  propagating  some  of  the  most  skeptical 
ideas  and  pernicious  doctrines  conceivable.  The 
influence  and  work  of  Mr.  Moody  and  his  followers, 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  of  Chicago, 
has  come  to  be  a  very  hot-bed  of  rationalism,  breaking 
loose  from  the  superstitions  and  antiquated  doctrines 
of  Scriptures.  They  reject  such  absurdities  as  the 
common  belief  in  election  and  eternal  punishment 


92  Early  Recollections  o]  Moody 

and  declare  their  God  to  be  too  just  for  the  partiality 
implied  in  the  doctrine  of  election,  and  too  merciful  to 
consign  any  of  his  comparatively  helpless  creatures 
to  never  ending  torments. 

In  the  Daily  Review  sketch  referred  to,  it  is  stated 
that  after  the  Great  Chicago  Fire,  Edinburgh's  con- 
tribution to  the  sufferers  amounting  to  about  £2,000 
was  consigned  to  the  care  of  the  mayor,  and  Mr. 
Moody,  as  president  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  of  Chicago.  Now  the  fact  is,  as  far  as  I 
can  find,  he  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  contribution 
referred  to.  He  certainly  was  not  president  of  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  at  the  time  of  the  fire,  or  since,  a  Mr. 
Henderson  being  president  at  the  time,  and  until  the 
following  spring,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  the 
present  president,  a  Mr.  Harvey.  You  will  probably 
remember  my  relating  to  you  when  here  my  having 
met  an  elderly  Ferrintosh  man  in  Chicago,  who  when 
he  had  condemned  the  whole  ordained  Christian 
ministry  as  an  imposition,  said  in  answer  to  my  ques- 
tion as  to  whether  he  considered  the  late  Dr.  Mc- 
Donald of  Ferrintosh  an  impostor,  "Hoch  bronan  ha 
fragael  ornisa  as  an  Dochtair."  That  misguided  old 
highlander  is  a  convert  of  Mr.  Moody's  manufacture. 
Mr.  Moody  is  too  shrewd,  however,  to  make  his  real 
tenets  known  in  Scotland  until  he  has  first  found  he 
has  got  a  foothold  among  the  people;  then  shall  the 
cloven  foot  be  made  manifest.  In  one  of  the  Edin- 
burgh addresses  he  says  that  he  does  not  object  to  the 
singing  of  the  psalms,  but  that  we  want  something 
new.  Now  I  know  that  Mr.  Moody  does  not  object 
to  them  all.  He  seems  to  have  searched  the  whole 
one  hundred  and  fifty,  and  found  about  half  a  dozen 


Early  Recollections  oj  Moody  93 

worthy  of  being  sung  in  his  church  here.  These  few 
are  included  in  his  collection  of  pieces  to  be  sung, 
and  they  are  occasionally  used.  Mr.  Moody  denies 
being  a  Plymouthist,  and  yet  we  know  that  the  Plym- 
outh brethren  do  follow  him,  and  declare  him  to 
be  one  of  the  few  who  preach  a  pure  gospel.  Mr. 
Darby,  the  leader  of  that  branch  of  the  Plymouth 
brethren  called  after  his  name,  was  recently  on  a  visit 
in  this  country,  and  during  his  stay  here  he  made  Mr. 
Moody  his  principal  confident  and  assistant  at  meet- 
ings held  here  for  the  express  purpose  of  disseminating 
his  baleful  doctrine.  In  Edinburgh  I  see  that  Mr. 
Moody  condemns  all  manner  of  religious  controversy. 
He  evidently  wishes  to  get  the  people  of  Scotland 
drifted  quietly  from  their  moorings,  without  meeting 
with  any  of  the  counteracting  currents  of  controversy, 
until  they  find  themselves  in  the  shallow  waters  of 
Plymouthism.  In  his  own  church  here  there  is  no 
regard  paid  to  any  ordained  ministry.  Mr.  Moody 
and  his  lay  associates  administer  the  Sacraments, 
without  the  assistance  of  any  ordained  minister  of  the 
Gospel. 

These  and  others  of  a  kindred  character  are  the 
practices  carried  on  in  the  church,  which  the  Scotch 
are  now  helping  by  their  contributions  to  Messrs. 
Moody  and  Sankey  to  build  in  Chicago.  Of  Mr. 
Sankey  I  can  say  that  he  is  comparatively  unknown 
in  Chicago,  excepting  as  a  performer  on  Mr.  Moody's 
favorite  convert-making  instrument.  We  are  all  glad 
to  hear  of  your  safe  arrival  home,  and  hope^you  and 
your  wife  will  be  benefited  by  your  journey  to  the 
Far  West.  With  kindest  regards, 

Yours,  etc.  JOHN  MACKEY. 


94  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

4  Claremont  Park. 
LEITH,  8,  May,  1874. 

Dear  Sir:  I  take  the  liberty  of  sending  you,  pre- 
fixed, copy  of  a  letter  which  I  understand  is  being 
circulated  in  manuscript  in  the  town  of  Inverness, 
and  I  also  send  you  a  copy  of  the  newspaper  to  which 
reference  is  made  in  it. 

You  will  observe  that  the  letter  contains  allegations 
which  seriously  affect  the  character  of  Mr.  Moody. 
The  friends  of  religion  who  have  been  associated  in 
Christian  work  with  Mr.  Moody  and  Mr.  Sankey  in 
this  country  are  anxious  that  there  should  be  a  thorough 
investigation  into  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  these 
charges;  and  I  have  been  requested  to  apply  to  you 
in  the  hope  that  you  will  be  kind  enough  to  furnish 
me  at  your  earliest  convenience  with  whatever  infor- 
mation you  can  obtain  to  satisfy  us  as  to  the  facts  of 
the  case. 

I  ought  to  say  for  your  information  that  the  sketch 
which  appeared  in  the  Daily  Review  was  not  prepared 
from  information  furnished  by  the  gentlemen,  and 
was  never  seen  by  them  till  they  saw  it  in  the  news- 
paper. 

If  the  allegations  contained  in  the  letter  are  quite 
unfounded  please  telegraph  per  cable  to  that  effect, 
and  write  to  me  more  fully  by  post. 

I  am,  Yours  truly,  JOHN  KELMAN. 

John  V.  Farwell,  Esq. 
Chicago. 

Address,  Rev.  John  Kelman, 
Free  St.  John's  Manse, 
Leith,  Scotland. 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  95 

June  igth,  1874. 
JOHN  MACKAY,  ESQ., 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  yours  refusing  to  retract  your 
slanders  against  Mr.  Moody.  I  regret  that  after  Mr. 
H.  disclaimed  any  charge  of  dishonesty  against  Mr. 
Moody,  who  you  claim  to  be  your  informant,  and  of  his 
having  acknowledged  to  him  that  you  wrote  the  slanders 
complained  of  in  your  letter  to  Dr.  Kennedy,  that  you 
should  see  fit  to  improve  the  opportunity  given  to 
yourself,  by  a  frank  acknowledgment  that  the  spirit 
of  your  first  letter  was  all  wrong.  I  have  tried  every 
method  known  to  the  Gospel  to  do  you  good  in  this 
matter  and  you  are  quite  mistaken  when  you  think 
that  the  law  is  invoked  to  establish  Mr.  Moody's 
Christian  character.  The  object  is  to  teach  you  a 
lesson  in  morals  that  you  refuse  to  receive  from  the 
Gospel,  and  it  may  do  for  you  what  kindness  has 
failed  to  accomplish. 

Yours  respectfully, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

June  26th,  1874. 

Dear  Brother  Moody:  I  have  tried  every  way  I 
know  to  get  Mackay  to  modify  his  letter  to  Dr.  Ken- 
nedy without  avail.  He  will  not  accept  Henderson's 
version  of  his  own  conversation  and  the  object  of  it. 
I  learn  from  the  Scotch  minister  that  the  letter  was  a 
matter  of  conference  with  Mackay  and  another 
" elected"  Scotchman,  whose  chief  business  in  the 
church  has  been  to  cultivate  discord  and  they  both 
declared  that  a  "  standard  would  be  raised  in  the 
North  against  Mr.  Moody's  work."  I  wrote  Dr. 
Kelman  that  I  would  recommend  that  Mackay  be 


g6  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

allowed  to  defend  himself  in  the  courts  inasmuch  as 
no  Gospel  method  of  dealing  with  him  had  had  any 
impression.  I  really  think  it  would  be  a  charitable 
act  to  make  him  pay  $5,000  or  $10,000  for  his  slanders 
to  be  expended  in  evangelizing  Dr.  Kennedy's  district 
in  Scotland,  or  some  other  good  work.  He  is  clearly 
liable  in  an  action  for  slander.  I  had  been  expecting 
to  hear  from  you  further  in  regard  to  this  matter,  but 
have  received  nothing  except  via  "The  Christian" 
which  I  get  now  every  week.  Dr.  Wilson  saw  Hen- 
derson and  seemed  to  be  perfectly  satisfied  as  to  the 
animus  of  Mackay  in  writing  the  letter. 

Henderson's  conversation  with  Mackay,  upon 
which  the  letter  was  based,  was  intended  to  raise  you 
in  his  estimation,  and  could  only  be  used  as  he  used 
it,  except  by  a  wilful  perversion  of  its  true  intent.  So 
Henderson  says,  and  still  the  muleish  Scotchman 
will  not  retract.  You  need  not  fear  the  result  under 
such  circumstances,  and  if  you  will  order  it,  I  will 
make  him  do  it  in  a  legal  way  that  will  do  him  and 
the  cause  good,  which  is  the  only  basis  on  which  I 
would  advise  such  a  course.  The  noon  meetings 
and  street  meetings  are  well  attended  and  the  Associa- 
tion building  will  soon  begin  to  show  progress.  With 
kindest  regards  for  yourself  and  family,  Sankey  and 
Parkhurst,  I  am  as  ever 

Very  truly  your  friend, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

August,  i pth,  1874. 
REV.  JOHN  KELMAN, 

Dear  Brother:  I  have  yours  in  regard  to  Mr. 
Moody's  work  and  his  "light  afflictions,"  which  has 


Early  Recollections  o)  Moody  97 

confirmed  my  faith  in  the  result  as  regards  him  and 
his  work.  The  D — 1  always  overdoes  his  work  upon 
such  subjects  as  he  is,  being  "exceeding  mad"  at 
such  actual  inroads  upon  his  kingdom.  I  rejoice  with 
you  at  what  has  already  been  done,  and  pray  that  the 
future  may  be  as  full  of  precious  fruits  as  the  past.  It 
is  very  wonderful  and  yet  why  should  we  not  expect 
the  Lord  to  do  just  such  things  for  his  needy  children. 
Your  letter  was  very  welcome,  as  it  is  the  first  human 
evidence  that  Satan's  designs  to  hinder  God's  work 
had  failed  of  the  object,  which  has  come  directly 
to  me,  since  your  letter  brought  the  knowledge  of 
them. 

Mr.  Moody  has  written  nothing  on  the  subject,  ex- 
cept to  direct  me  where  to  get  such  information  as 
you  wanted,  and  has  been  probably  less  diverted  from 
his  work  by  reason  of  the  false  charges  than  most 
men  would  have  been. 

I  have  no  heart  to  suggest  that  he  is  much  needed 
and  much  wanted  here,  when  there  seems  to  be  so 
much  rich  harvesting  done  with  your  people.  The 
Lord  knows  best  where  to  put  his  workmen,  but  I  can 
assure  you  that  there  are  many  hearts  here  who  yearn 
to  see  his  face  and  hear  his  loving  words  again.  We 
had  made  extra  exertions  to  have  our  Hall  done  this 
fall,  expecting  him  to  use  it  for  the  Master,  but  "it  is 
well,"  some  one  will  be  raised  up  to  give  the  Gospel 
to  the  multitudes  who  used  to  hang  upon  his  words  in 
that  place  which  the  fire  took,  that  the  way  now  in 
Scotland  might  be  opened  up  for  more  successful 
labors.  What  are  cities  and  commerce  compared 
with  souls  of  men,  and  when  our  good  brother  said 
he  was  going  to  Europe  for  ten  thousand  souls,  I  could 


98  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

but  thank  God  for  the  agencies  which  had  conspired 
to  send  him  there,  fearful  as  they  were,  believing  that 
He  who  inspired  the  design,  would  fill  the  measure  of 
his  expectations,  and  with  a  heart  full  of  love  for  all  the 
brethren  who  have  held  up  his  hands,  I  am, 
Yours  very  truly, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 

It  is  to  my  mind  the  strangest  thing  in  human 
history,  that  any  one,  be  he  a  Doctor  of  Divinity, 
or  a  layman,  if  they  are  Christ's  disciples,  can 
deliberately  attempt  to  destroy  the  power  and 
influence  of  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Moody  in  working 
for  Christ  to  produce  that  union  among  Christians 
that  he  prayed  for  in  his  last  recorded  prayer  for 
his  disciples  throughout  all  time,  "that  they  all 
might  be  one  as  He  and  the  Father  were  one, 
that  the  world  might  believe  on  Him." 

That  they  did  not  succeed,  indicates  that  Satan 
gets  into  the  church  to  do  his  dirty  work  through 
Doctors  of  Divinity  as  well  as  laymen,  but  with- 
out success,  as  against  the  weakest  laymen,  who 
rely  on  Him  who  said,  "get  thee  behind  me, 
Satan." 

The  fact  was  that  the  business  man  referred 
to  in  this  scandalous  letter,  was  just  before  Mr. 
Moody  went  into  his  employ  a  partner  of  my 
firm,  and  that  when  he  died  (before  this  letter 
was  written  to  destroy  Mr.  Moody's  influence  as 
a  gospel  preacher  in  Scotland)  he  made  Mr. 
Moody  his  executor.  A  strange  proceeding,  if 


Early  Recollections  o)  Moody  99 

he  had  the  proof  in  his  hands  before  his  death  of 
Mr.  Moody's  infidelity  to  truth  and  honesty. 
Thus  the  devil  always  proceeds  in  trying  to 
prevent  the  ^spread  of  truth.  He  overdoes  his 
work  so  much,  that  it  contradicts  itself. 

The  result  of  the  inquiry  was  quite  satisfactory 
to  the  Committee,  and  no  doubt  this  persecution 
of  Mr.  Moody  gave  him  a  larger  hearing  in  Scot- 
land than  he  would  have  had  without  it.  The  cul- 
mination of  it  in  London,  was  an  overwhelming 
defeat  of  the  elements  in  the  churches,  which 
made  for  discord  instead  of  union. 

Mr.  Moody's  next  letter  after  this  storm  showed 
that  he  had  heard  the  Master's  voice,  "Peace  be 
still,"  to  be  followed  by  still  greater  blessing,  was 
from  Dublin,  which  reveals  his  growing  interest 
in  the  work  at  home,  and  his  yearning  for  success 
of  those  who  had  followed  him  in  home  fields. 
This  letter  shows  another  enemy  in  Chicago, 
claiming  that  he  was  a  "speculating  Yankee"  in 
results  of  sales  of  hymn  books  of  which  fund  he 
never  took  a  penny  for  himself.  I  know  this  as 
one  of  his  hymn  book  committee,  as  well  as  from 
himself,  before  I  was  on  the  Committee. 

Rev.  Horatio  Bonar,  D.  D.,  wrote  a  pamphlet 
in  answer  to  the  articles  written  by  opponents  of 
union  work  growing  out  of  this  letter  to  Dr.  Ken- 
nedy, and  I  wrote  him  the  following  letter,  after 
reading  it : 


ioo  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

December  29th,  1874. 
REV.  HORATIUS  BONAR,  D.D., 

Dear  Brother:  Having  read  with  intense  satisfaction 
your  masterly  defense  of  the  Gospel  (both  in  its  spirit 
and  substance)  against  an  unwise  attack  in  the  house 
of  its  friends  I  am  constrained  to  give  you  some  facts 
concerning  Brother  Moody,  which  must  from  Dr.  Ken- 
nedy's standpoint,  as  well  as  yours,  add  to  the  now 
overwhelming  evidence  of  his  divine  call  to  "preach 
the  Word." 

He  began  his  work  in  the  alleys  of  our  city,  literally 
compelling  neglected  little  ones  to  go  to  Mission  Sun- 
day Schools,  in  which  he  then  thought  he  could  not 
even  teach  the  most  ignorant.  A  few  years  of  such 
work  gave  him  an  inspiration  to  organize  a  school  in 
the  worst  part  of  the  city  for  the  poorer  classes.  I 
say  gave  him  an  inspiration  because  nothing  less  than 
such  connection  could  have  influenced  him  to  prose- 
cute the  work  in  opposition  to  the  advices  of  all  the 
pastors  in  the  vicinity,  earnestly  and  prayerfully 
sought  before  entering  upon  the  work  in  itself,  hu- 
manly speaking,  most  forbidding,  without  discourage- 
ments from  a  source  whence  he  expected  a  hearty 
"God  speed."  He  was  regarded  then  as  of  the  class 
having  "zeal  without  knowledge,"  and  his  entrance 
upon  such  a  work,  under  such  circumstances,  together 
with  his  zeal  for  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  in  fact  all  union 
enterprises  looking  toward  earnest  work  for  the  neg- 
lected ones,  which  often  seemed  to  conservatism 
to  trench  upon  the  work  of  the  churches,  as  such, 
made  him  very  unpopular  with  the  ministry. 

One  leading  minister,  even  went  so  far  as  to  use 
his  influence  to  have  all  the  young  men  of  his  church 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  101 

withdraw  from  the  Association.  And  in  the  Associa- 
tion itself,  after  he  had  been  recognized  by  its  best 
friends,  as  its  leading  light,  aside  from  his  Master,  he 
could  not  have  been  elected  as  president,  had  not 
those  friends  insisted,  to  the  extent  of  withdrawing 
from  it  themselves,  if  he  was  not  put  where  his  merits 
as  a  worker  entitled  him  to  be. 

This  secured  to  him  the  place,  which  to  my  mind 
was  the  first  great  step,  which  the  Lord  ordered,  in  the 
line  of  human  agencies  for  his  advancement  to  the 
work  of  an  evangelist.  His  want  of  education  and 
mental  discipline,  became  more  apparent  to  him,  as 
his  duties  brought  him  face  to  face  with  these  defects, 
and  drove  him  to  a  firmer  trust  in  God  as  the  all  suffi- 
cient complement  to  his  weakness  in  doing  his  work, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  more  studious  habits,  notforget- 
ting  that  to  trust  strongly  we  must  work  vigorously. 
Of  course  the  result  was  the  overcoming  of  all  the  old 
prejudices,  which  had  existed,  and  ultimately  the 
hearty  co-operation  and  good  will  of  nearly  all  of  our 
evangelical  ministers  in  his  special  work,  the  excep- 
tion if  any,  being  the  so-called  "High  Church." 
Episcopal  Ministers.  About  two  years  after  his  elec- 
tion to  the  presidency  of  the  Association,  he  decided  to 
give  up  secular  business  and  devote  his  whole  time  to 
missionary  work,  led  as  I  understand  by  no  other 
influences  than  his  own  convictions  of  duty  and 
privilege. 

His  accumulations,  amounting  to  some  $7,000  or 
$8,000,  were  all  spent,  and  he  was  found  sleeping  on  a 
bench  in  the  noon  prayer-meeting  room,  and  living  on 
crackers  and  cheese,  before  his  purpose  in  this  regard 
became  known,  and  it  was  then  proposed  to  give  him 


IO2  Early  Recollections  0}  Moody 

a  salary  as  an  association  secretary,  and  control  his 
time,  which  he  steadily  refused,  on  the  ground  that  as 
the  Lord's  servant  he  wanted  his  time,  to  go  wherever 
and  whenever  he  felt  called  to  go  by  the  Master  him- 
self. 

And  now  I  come  to  a  fact  which  in  the  light.of  recent 
events  connected  with  his  work,  I  have  been  com- 
pelled to  interpret  as  one  of  the  steps  in  the  line  of 
divine  agencies,  which  with  his  then  untaught  mind 
(comparatively)  in  scriptural  truth,  must  have  taught 
him  to  hold  on  to  the  divine  arm  in  his  work  of  saving 
souls,  with  a  firmer  faith. 

About  this  time  the  noon  prayer  meeting  was  lan- 
guishing, and  one  day  the  only  attendant  was  an  old 
Scotch  lady,  over  sixty  years  of  age,  who  climbed  two 
flights  of  stairs,  and  opened  the  precious  Word,  read  a 
chapter,  sang  her  Psalm,  and  then  offered  a  devout 
prayer  for  the  maintenance  of  the  meetings.  Soon 
after  this  a  devout  Christian  man  from  a  neighboring 
state  had  business  in  our  city,  which  detained  him 
several  months.  He  at  once  became  very  much  inter- 
ested in  the  Association  (particularly  the  noon  prayer 
meeting)  and  Mr.  Moody's  Mission  School,  and  was 
abundant  in  labors  with  him  in  these  two  fields.  He 
had  had  hip  disease  from  his  early  youth  and  was  then 
thirty-eight  years  old.  The  disease  had  caused  the 
dislocation  of  the  hip  joint,  making  one  leg  some  three 
inches  shorter  than  the  other.  His  walking  about 
from  house  to  house  with  Brother  Moody  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Mission  Sunday  School  had  made  the 
disease  much  more  painful  than  usual,  until  he  had 
determined  to  have  a  surgical  operation  performed  if 
it  should  promise  any  relief.  On  Saturday,  he  had 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  103 

made  an  engagement  with  a  surgeon  to  that  end,  and 
was  to  have  been  examined  on  the  Monday  following. 
On  Sunday  evening  after  the  usual  labors  of  the  day 
he  invited  Brother  Moody  and  myself  to  his  room, 
as  he  had  something  very  important  to  tell  us. 

We  all  went  from  the  Sunday  School  prayer-meeting 
to  his  room,  where  with  choked  utterance  he  gave  the 
following  account  of  the  Saturday  night's  experiences 
in  that  room  (after  giving  us  quite  an  extended  ac- 
count of  his  Christian  experience,  and  his  lameness 
which  we  had  both  noticed  for  months) .  He  said  he 
went  from  his  bath  to  his  room  with  the  thought, 
"Why  cannot  my  hip  be  made  whole  as  well  as  that 
impotent  man's  who  lay  at  the  beautiful  gate  of .  the 
temple?"  Then  he  fell  asleep  convinced  that  there 
was  no  reason  why  he  could  not  claim  the  promises  for 
such  a  purpose.  In  his  sleep  he  dreamed  that  the 
surgeon  had  opened  his  thigh  with  a  knife  and  set  the 
bone,  in  an  incredibly  short  space  of  time,  and  waking 
out  of  his  sleep  he  was  astonished  to  find  his  pain  all 
gone  and  still  more  to  find  that  both  limbs  were  of  the 
same  length,  when  he  got  up  to  walk.  We  had  not 
noticed  that  he  had  no  cane  on  Sunday  though  we 
had  noticed  that  his  walk  was  changed  and  when  we 
came  to  his  room  he  astonished  us  by  running  upstairs 
two  steps  at  a  time,  using  one  leg  as  well  as  the  other. 
It  will  be  fourteen  years  in  June  since  this  occurred, 
and  you  are  the  first  person  to  whom  I  have  mentioned 
it  in  writing,  for  this  reason.  For  these  fourteen  years 
I  have  not  seen  any  reason  in  the  history  of  this 
brother,  why  God  should  so  deal  with  him  (as  he  pur- 
posely abstains  from  mentioning  it)  that  might  not 
be  found  in  hundreds  of  other  Christians,  except  his 


IO4  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

own  statement  of  faith  in  God's  promises  for  such  a 
purpose.  But  what  if  the  faith  of  our  good  brother 
Moody  had  failed  at  that  midwinter  of  his  Christian 
experience  as  a  wholly  consecrated  vessel  unto  honor, 
and  he  had  gone  back  to  his  merchandise,  while  the 
love  of  so  many  had  waxed  cold  in  his  cherished  work? 
Then  we  hadn't  seen  him  to-day,  "mighty  in  the 
Scriptures,"  a  more  sure  foundation  for  his  faith  than 
this  incident,  that  might  have  been  needed  just  at 
that  time  to  sustain  him,  until  this  higher  and  better 
evidence  should  find  lodgement  in  his  soul.  God 
will  honor  his  own,  and  may  He  abundantly  bless  you 
for  your  helping  hand  in  holding  up  the  Word  of  life 
as  it  is  in  him.  Yours  in  Christ, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 

December,  29th,  1874. 

Dear  Brother  Moody:  I  have  just  read  Dr.  Bonar's 
pamphlet,  which  has  more  than  confirmed  my  first 
conviction,  that  the  D — 1  had  gone  too  far  in  that 
Dr.  Kennedy's  letter.  What  a  difference  the  Lord 
puts  between  men.  Some  vessels  unto  honor,  while 
others  are  only  the  scavengers'  buckets  with  which  the 
Lord's  house  is  cleansed.  I  have  had  two  letters 
lately  from  Brother  Field  in  which  reference  was 
made  to  his  wonderful  experience  and  now  I  want  to 
ask  you  if  that  incident  had  any  special  influence  upon 
your  mind,  and  if  so  in  what  direction?  You  know 
those  were  dark  days  in  some  respects.  I  am  led  to 
make  this  inquiry  from  the  fact  that  I  cannot  see  any- 
thing in  his  history  that  would  seem  to  justify  such 
a  work  for  him  (outside  of  his  faith).  You  know  he 
does  not  speak  of  it,  and  seems  to  be  very  suspicious 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  105 

that  you  and  I  may  not  fully  credit  his  story.  If  he 
had  been  made  a  special  instrument  of  grace  through 
this  fact  in  his  history,  then  it  would  be  plain,  as  to 
him.  And  then  again,  if  your  course  as  a  fully  con- 
secrated man  has  been  shaped  more  into  a  firm  trust 
in  God's  promises  from  being  brought  so  near  to  a 
visible  demonstration  of  the  faithfulness  of  our  God, 
then  it  is  clear  to  my  mind,  "What  I  do,  thou  knowest 
not  now,  but  thou  shalt  know  hereafter,"  and  it 
throws  a  flood  of  light  on  one  part  of  your  experience, 
drawn  from  one  of  Christ's  "little  ones  who  believe  in 
Me."  It  was  one  of  the  steps  out  of  the  valley  up 
to  the  Mount  of  God  where  His  Word  is  all  that  His 
servant  wants  to  stand  upon,  as  the  rock  more  firm 
than  a  hundred  miracles  because  apprehended  by  a 
faith  that  moves  mountains  of  difficulty. 

Varley  was  at  the  Fulton  Street  meeting,  and  about 
a  dozen  of  them  remained  after  the  meeting  to  pray 
for  the  meetings  in  Manchester  and  especially  for 
you.  He  also  sent  a  telegraphic  request  that  was  sent 
from  China  and  Japan  to  be  presented  at  our  meeting. 
Spafford  led  the  meeting  to-day,  i4th  of  John,  the  topic, 
which  with  Field's  requests  and  the  practical  manner 
in  which  he  handled  the  subject  made  it  a  very  pre- 
cious meeting.  Cole  and  Whittle  were  both  here,  and 
both  full  of  the  theme,  and  if  you  could  have  been 
here,  it  would  have  seemed  like  old  times  again.  Cole 
has  grown  very  much  and  I  think  Brother  Field  has 
given  him  a  valuable  lesson  in  Prayer  when  here  last 
summer.  The  meetings  are  very  interesting  now, 
and  it  looks  as  though  we  were  to  have  a  blessing. 
Pray  for  us  and  our  meetings.  Yours, 

J.  V.  F. 


INCIDENTS  IN  ENGLAND 

At  his  meetings  at  Newcastle,  laymen  partici- 
pated largely,  and  gradually  ministers,  with  the 
exception  of  the  M.  E.  ministers,  who  had  voted 
not  to  invite  him  into  their  chapels,  as  he  was  a 
layman,  but  M.  E.  laymen  were  not  exempt  from 
the  showers  of  blessing  in  that  city,  and  so  asked 
Mr.  Moody  why  he  did  not  preach  in  their  chapels, 
as  they  were  so  much  larger.  He  would  not 
answer  then,  and  so  at  the  railroad  depot,  as  he 
left  for  Edinburgh  they  insisted  on  an  answer, 
which  was,  "I  never  go  where  I  am  not  wanted." 
These  laymen  finding  from  their  ministers  the 
real  reason  (a  vote  to  exclude  laymen),  made 
their  ministers  invite  him  back  to  preach  in  their 
chapels.  This  was  notice  to  ministers  all  over 
the  kingdom  after  that  time,  that  Mr.  Moody  was 
in  the  apostolic  succession,  and  could  not  be 
ignored. 

I  was  requested  while  in  Edinburgh  to  give  some 
account  of  Mr.  Moody 's  work  in  Chicago. 

The  infidel  janitor  of  the  hall,  who  had  been 
converted  under  Mr.  Moody's  preaching,  came  to 
me  after  the  address  and  said,  "Why  didn't  you 
talk  about  Mr.  Moody's  Master,  instead  of  him?" 

This  incident  fully  illustrates  how  his  ministry 
left  the  photograph  of  Jesus  upon  the  minds  and 
106 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  107 

hearts  of  his  converts,  instead  of  his  own,  and 
made  me  feel  very  cheap. 

In  Glasgow,  I  was  invited  to  attend  a  Sunday 
dinner  for  the  poor  in  the  public  park  in  a  great 
tent, where  Mr.  Moody's  meetings  were  held,  and 
where  two  thousand  people  had  bread  and  coffee 
served  to  them,  by  Christians,  after  which  they  had 
Moody's  evangelistic  services.  Scores  rose  for 
prayers,  and  then  personal  conversation  with  these 
enquirers  ended  the  service. 

Such  an  invitation  to  the  hungry  was  irresistible 
and  was  a  Christlike  method  of  introducing  the 
Lord  Jesus  to  the  multitude  there,  as  well  as  in 
the  wilderness  of  Judea,  by  the  Master  himself. 

A  prominent  man  in  the  south  of  London  was 
converted  at  the  Camberwell  tabernacle,  and  was 
invited  by  another  man  more  prominent  still, 
after  dining  with  his  family,  to  go  to  the  theater. 
He  assented  on  the  condition  that  on  the  next 
evening  he  would  go  to  the  Moody  meetings. 
To  this  he  agreed  and  the  result  was  that  he  was 
converted. 

In  his  great  anxiety  and  effort  for  his  wife's  con- 
version, he  broke  a  blood  vessel,  and  was  not  ex- 
pected to  live.  I  never  saw  Mr.  Moody  so  anxious 
about  any  case  in  all  his  work.  The  man  re- 
covered and  the  whole  family  became  Christians. 
A  large  stud  of  race  horses,  billiards,  cards,  operas 
and  theaters,  went  out  of  that  man's  life  from 
that  day. 


io8  Early  Recollections  o)  Moody 

Mr.  Moody  was  invited  to  Oxford  to  speak  be- 
fore the  students,  who  had  planned  in  the  mean- 
time to  break  up  the  meeting.  The  oldest  son 
of  this  man's  family — a  splendid  athlete,  and  a 
leader  in  all  the  sports  of  the  class — learning  of  the 
plan,  took  the  platform  with  Mr.  Moody  and  pre- 
vented such  a  denouement,  and  instead,  many  were 
made  to  see  their  need  of  a  Savior  instead  of  a 
student's  row. 

Another  son  went  to  China  as  a  missionary, 
and  on  a  return  trip  to  England,  he  came  through 
Chicago  and  spoke  in  Mr.  Moody 's  favorite  noon- 
day meeting,  and  gave  a  most  interesting  account 
of  his  work  there.  While  in  London  I  visited 
Hudson  Taylor,  and  found  him  teaching  a  class 
of  young  men  to  be  missionaries  in  China,  as  his 
own  church  had  refused  to  aid  him,  because  his 
scheme  was  too  large, — no  less  than  sending  a 
missionary  to  every  province  in  China — I  also 
saw  him  in  Mr.  Moody's  meetings  at  London. 
Now  he  has  lived  to  see  his  proposition  to  his 
church  carried  out  by  his  own  personal  efforts, 
and  at  the  recent  student's  conference  in  North- 
field  his  own  son — now  a  missionary  to  China — 
made  one  of  the  most  interesting  addresses  of  the 
conference.  How  much  inspiration  the  father 
and  son  received  from  their  attendance  upon  the 
Moody  meetings,  God  only  knows. 

In  the  last  large  Agricultural  Hall  meeting  in 
the  north  of  London,  where  25,000  were  inside 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  109 

and  50,000  outside,  an  Eton  man  rose  for  prayers 
on  the  platform — the  son  of  a  rich  Bombay  mer- 
chant— I  went  with  him  to  the  enquiry  room  where 
he  soon  saw  his  way  into  the  kingdom,  and  also 
became  anxious  for  his  fellow  students. 

I  was  invited  to  dine  with  one  of  the  head 
masters  of  the  school  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Graham, 
an  ex-M.  C. — of  Mr.  Moody's  committee, — who 
was  invited  there,  preliminary  to  arranging  a  meet- 
ing at  Eton.  This  failed  by  the  action  of  members 
of  Parliament,  but,  nothing  daunted,  the  new 
man  student  obtained  the  lawn  of  a  citizen,  with 
high  brick  walls  around  it,  where  the  meeting  was 
held.  The  scions  of  wealth  and  royalty  and  of 
the  established  church  thus  heard  a  layman 
preach  and  the  fact  was  heralded  all  over  England 
as  the  best  possible  advertisement  of  the  work 
Mr.  Moody  was  doing. 

From  ragged  children  in  Chicago,  to  sons  of 
England's  best  society,  was  Mr.  Moody's  high- 
way of  the  Lord. 

Mr.  Gladstone — probably  the  greatest  intellect 
of  his  times,  if  not  of  all  times,  in  his  accumula- 
tion of  the  wisdom  of  the  ages — was  a  humble 
listener  in  that  great  hall,  sitting  at  the  feet  of  one 
of  God's  consecrated,  and  therefore  a  God  filled 
man,  who  gained  this  eminence  because  he  put  all 
his  powers  into  the  service  of  God  in  serving 
men. 

Mr.  Gladstone  was  charmed,  the  same  as  the 


no  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

ragged  boys  had  been,  by  such  a  ministry,  and 
said  to  Mr.  Moody: 

"I  wish  I  had  your  voice,"  and  he  might  have 
said  also,  your  power  over  men  for  good.  Mr. 
Moody  replied,  in  a  flash  of  intellectual  inspira- 
tion, in  such  a  presence,  "I  wish  I  had  your  head," 
indicating  that  with  such  added  power  of  mind  he 
wished  to  be  just  that  much  more  a  power  for 
good  as  such  a  mental  grasp  of  the  wisdom  of  all 
ages  would  inspire  in  him.  I  would  not  intimate 
that  Moody  was  not  great  in  that  sense,  naturally. 
His  opportunities  were  comparatively  meager  to 
acquire  the  wisdom  of  others  in  the  past,  and  so 
he  made  the  Bible  his  basis  of  the  knowledge  of 
God  and  human  nature,  from  creation  down  to 
his  call  to  be  the  world's  Evangelist, — and  who 
shall  say  that  he  was  not  the  wiser  of  the  two,  in 
the  things  that  are  seen  as  well  as  unseen,  in  the 
use  of  what  God  gave  him  in  answer  to  his  con- 
secration to  such  a  work. 

While  Mr.  Moody  was  in  London,  Rev.  Pear- 
sail  Smith,  of  Philadelphia,  opened  meetings  at 
Brighton  to  preach  entire  sanctification  as  an 
instantaneous  possibility  for  all,  which  annoyed 
Mr.  Moody  very  much.  I  have  heard  him  say, 
"  Whenever  anyone  openly  claims  that  he  is  so 
sanctified  that  he  commits  no  sin  you  had  better 
put  two  detectives  on  his  track ;  you  will  soon  find 
out  that  his  creed  and  his  life  do  not  agree."  The 
most  perfect  men  do  not  claim  perfection — quite 


Early  Recollections  0}  Moody  1 1 1 

the  contrary.  A  book,  "  Grace  for  Grace"  which 
Mr.  Moody  had  (by  my  advice)  recommended, 
and  Hodder  &  Stoughton  had  published,  to 
combat  that  error  in  doctrine,  was  read  and  con- 
demned by  Lord  Shaftsbury,  showing  that  the 
best  of  men  sometimes  get  away  from  sound 
Scripture,  as  well  as  sound  human  productions. 
Mr.  Moody  then,  by  request  of  friends  in  Eng- 
land, recalled  his  endorsement,  on  the  ground 
that  he  had  not  read  this  book  himself.  I  give 
some  letters  showing  what  great  influence  such 
men  as  Lord  Shaftsbury  have  on  the  English 
mind,  or  no  such  request  would  ever  have  been 
made: 

November,  igth,  1875. 

Dear  Moody:  I  have  yours  with  enclosure,  and 
it  reminds  me  of  my  thoughts  about  the  printing  of 
that  book  by  Hodder,  after  you  told  me  of  the  rivalry 
among  printers  and  publishers  for  matter  connected 
with  your  work.  It  occurred  to  me  that  some  rival 
publisher  would  criticise  your  recommendation  of  the 
work,  particularly  on  account  of  your  allusions  to  its 
practical  exposition  of  the  "  higher  life."  I  have 
handed  the  documents  to  Spafford,  who  first  called 
my  attention  to  the  book,  and  when  he  has  returned 
them  to  me  and  given  me  his  exposition  of  Ecce  Homo, 
Ecce  Deus,  Renan,  etc.,  in  their  connection  with 
"Grace  for  Grace,"  we  will  write  you  again. 

I  am  sure  of  this,  however,  that  any  book  which 
will  feed  Spafford  in  his  present  spiritual  state  (to  say 
nothing  of  my  own  poor  heart's  enjoyment  of  its  pages) 


ii2  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

you  can  afford  to  send  to  Christian  people  who  are 
desirous  to  grow  in  grace,  more  than  to  criticise.  As 
I  know  nothing  of  Ecce  Homo  and  Renan,  I  cannot 
speak  intelligently  of  his  allusions  to  them,  but  taking 
it  for  granted  that  their  representations  of  the  hu- 
manity of  Christ  had  served  to  exalt  Him  in  his  mind, 
I  can  see  nothing  heretical  or  injurious  in  such  al- 
lusions. From  the  deep  spiritual  life  of  the  man  I 
am  loth  to  believe  it  to  be  possible  for  him  to  make 
mistakes  in  advising  his  flock.  The  promise  is  that 
the  Comforter  "  shall  guide  into  all  truth,"  and  if  the 
author  was  not  guided  thus  in  writing  those  letters, 
then  the  perusal  of  them  is  very  deceptive  if  their  in- 
fluence upon  our  mind  and  heart  is  any  guide  to  the 
judgment  in  forming  an  opinion  about  them.  I  am 
sorry  to  have  been  the  instrument  of  any  trouble  to 
you,  but  I  am  very  much  mistaken  if  you  do  not  have 
a  review  from  the  other  side  in  answer  to  this  one, 
and  my  opinion  is  that  the  Lord  will  use  this  very 
criticism  to  vindicate  the  wisdom  of  publishing  the 
book  in  England,  for  your  friends  to  read,  by  increas- 
ing its  sale,  as  well  as  the  number  who  shall  say  you 
did  well  in  recommending  it.  The  Lord  go  with  you 
to  Philadelphia  and  shake  that  great  city  is  my  prayer. 
Love  to  Mrs.  M.  and  all  Philadelphia. 
Yours  very  truly, 

(Signed)  JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 

January  18,  1876. 

Dear  Moody:  Hodder  has  written  us  again  en- 
closing a  note  from  Stone  which  I  enclose  to  you — 
also  a  clipping  from  the  Record,  the  paper  which 
opened  the  controversy.  I  am  very  sorry  your  letter 


Early  Recollections  oj  Moody  113 

to  Shaftsbury  has  produced  such  a  result,  as  I  cannot 
but  feel  that  the  book,  with  the  emendations  suggested 
by  Spafford — leaving  it  invulnerable  to  any  criticism — 
would  do  an  immense  labor  in  building  upon  the 
foundation  you  have  so  well  laid  in  your  work  in  Eng- 
land and  Scotland.  I  am  not  sure  that  this  last  mis- 
take is  not  worse  than  the  first,  which  at  the  most,  has 
evoked  criticism  which  will  result  in  expunging  all 
chaff  from  a  full  bag  of  real  wheat. 

How  Shaftsbury,  or  any  one  else,  can  charge  the 
author  with  using  this  wheat  as  "corks  to  float  the 
chaff  of  error"  I  cannot  see.  It  shows  very  little 
spiritual  discernment  in  reading  the  mind  of  the 
author,  whose  life  and  work  as  well  as  this  book,  place 
him  far,  far  above  any  such  judgment  in  the  eyes  of 
fair-minded  men.  This  it  is  which  convinces  me 
that  such  high  authority  was  necessary  to  call  atten- 
tion to  these  flaws,  that  they  might  be  corrected  at 
once,  and  that  he  should  condemn  in  such  terms,  in- 
stead of  writing  as  he  might  truthfully  have  written, 
in  which  case  probably  this  book  would  have  con- 
tinued without  any  alterations.  I  have  no  more  ad- 
vice to  give  in  the  matter,  neither  am  I  sorry  for  what 
I  have  done  thus  far. 

If  this  book  has  suffered  martrydom  then  will  it  now 
only  just  begin  its  course  of  usefulness.  It  certainly 
is  not  "Pearsall  Smithism,"  which  seems  to  have  col- 
lapsed with  fatal  results,  but,  if  well  read,  will  ef- 
fectually prevent  any  such  fearful  errors  in  doctrine 
as  he  taught,  and  was  incidentally  referred  to  in  your 
letter  in  such  a  way  as  to  show  that  you  saw  those 
errors,  if  you  endorsed  James,  the  author. 

I  shall  follow  you  with  hopeful  expectations  into 


H4  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

"  Sodom,"  not  without  some  fears  however.     Love 

to  you  and  yours. 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 

Mr.  Stone,  whose  letter  follows,  as  to  the  book 
complained  of  by  Lord  Shaftsbury,  was  Chairman 
of  Mr.  Moody's  Committee,  whose  opinion  en- 
dorsed Mr.  Moody  fully : 

31  Old  Change,  28  December,  1875. 

My  dear  Mr.  Hodder:  I  commenced  on  Sunday 
to  read  "Grace  for  Grace"  and  had  finished  it  within 
about  forty  pages  yesterday.  I  should  very  much  like 
to  see  the  criticisms  upon  it  which  are  adverse.  I  can 
quite  understand  that  many  passages  taken  separately 
are  open  to  objection.  This  is  true  of  every  book, 
but  taken  as  a  whole,  I  have  enjoyed  the  reading 
exceedingly. 

I  have  looked  very  carefully  for  the  unsound  parts, 
but  have  failed  to  find  them.  The  writer  does  not 
go  just  in  the  ordinary  run  of  thoughts,  excluding  every 
book  as  unworthy  of  notice  because  it  contains  what 
is  unsound,  but  he  separates  the  vile  from  the  precious, 
and  does  not  hesitate  severely  to  denounce  doctrines 
which  he  considers  injurious  when  found  in  the  books 
of  men  whose  writings  he  otherwise  vastly  admires. 

His  great  aim  seems  to  be  to  promote  holiness,  not 
in  a  legal  way  by  man's  getting  rid  of  some  evil  in  him 
in  order  to  make  him  more  fit  for  God  to  commence 
work  with  him,  but  by  his  taking  the  lowest  place  of 
demerit  that  God  may  come  in  and  make  him  His 
habitation.  His  views  of  God's  love  are  in  my 
opinion  very  exalted  and  helpful  to  the  believer  and 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  115 

his  view  of  the  atonement  and  of  our  debt  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  is  most  precious. 

The  writer  says  more  about  "Ecce  Homo"  than 
is  justified,  but  when  writing  freely  to  a  friend,  it  is 
easily  accounted  for  as  very  likely  there  was  no  thought 
of  publication  in  his  mind,  but  even  there  he  points 
out  error  fairly. 

Please  give  me  a  sight  of  what  is  said  against  the 
book.     I  shall  read  and  return  anything  you  send. 
Yours  very  truly, 

T.  STONE. 

January  18,  1876. 
M.  H.  HODDER,  ESQ., 

Dear  Brother:  I  have  yours  in  regard  to  "  Grace 
for  Grace"  and  have  written  Moody  on  the  subject. 
I  think  the  D — 1  must  have  started  that  'criticism  for 
the  purpose  of  stopping  its  circulation,  and  you  know 
he  needed  pretty  high  authority  to  do  this  dirty  work 
upon  such  a  subject  as  that  book,  but  if  the  end  should 
be  that  the  little  harmless  mistakes  of  a  dead  author's 
editors  should  eliminate  these  mistakes,  and  give  the 
book  a  wider  circulation  then,  as  in  other  cases,  we 
will  see  how  the  Lord  can  bring  good  out  of  evil  and 
how  He  can  use  the  mistakes  of  good  men,  dead  and 
alive,  to  promote  his  own  glory. 

I  hope  Moody  will  write  you  again.  His  friend  who 
called  my  attention  to  the  book  has  read  and  re-read  it, 
until  he  has  become  so  interested  that  he  has  taken 
out  these  mistakes  and  seen  the  American  publishers 
and  got  them  to  send  the  revised  edition  to  the  owners 
of  the  copyrights  for  their  approval,  when  it  is  proposed 
to  get  out  a  cheap  edition  and  make  extra  exertions  to 


n6  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

circulate  it.    I  also  send  you  a  copy  with  a  like  sug- 
gestion. 

I  am  glad  you  are  having  such  good  times  in  the 
Lord's  work  and  sorry  that  Pearsall  Smith  should  so 
soon  demonstrate  practically  that  he  was  in  error  as 
to  absolute  perfection  in  his  Christian  walk.  The 
old  conflict  will  always  show  old  Adam  alive,  and 
thus  some  sin  in  us;  but  poor  man  he  did  not  get  Paul's 
victory  over  it.  That  is  what  we  must  have  to  be  able 
to  teach  others. 

Yours  very  truly, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

February  8th,  1876. 
LORD  SHAFTSBURY, 

My  dear  Sir:  Mr.  Moody  sent  me  a  copy  of  your 
letter  in  regard  to  his  recommendation  of  "  Grace  for 
Grace"  (which  has  since  appeared  in  print  with  his 
answer)  and  I  deem  it  due  to  him  to  state  one  of  the 
reasons  why  he  gave  it  the  sanction  of  his  name.  A 
dear  friend  of  his,  who  believes  as  he  does,  in  regard 
to  the  conflict  of  the  two  natures,  as  a.  believer,  con- 
ceived this  book  to  be  a  photograph  of  the  author's 
spiritual  experiences,  and  as  such  would  help  many 
minds  struggling  for  the  higher  life,  to  realize  more 
perfectly  the  nature  and  privileges  of  a  life  of  faith. 
Mr.  Moody  regarded  Pearsall  Smith's  teachings 
erroneous  and  thought  this  book  (from  the  known 
character  of  its  author  and  the  judgment  of  many 
friends)  would  help  to  counteract  the  error  of  Smith's 
teachings,  and  hence  would  be  opportune,  and  that 
the  mention  of  objectionable  authors  in  the  manner 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  117 

and  in  the  connection  in  which  they  were  introduced, 
should  ever  have  elicited  such  criticisms  as  have  ap- 
peared, is  more  of  a  surprise  to  many  conservative  and 
earnest  Christians,  who  know  the  author  and  have 
read  and  re-read  the  book,  than  that  Mr.  Moody  should 
have  given  it  his  sanction,  had  he  read  it  for  himself  a 
dozen  times,  and  hence  the  unqualified  withdrawal 
of  his  recommendation  was  a  greater  mistake  than 
the  giving  of  it. 

Time  and  a  calmer  survey  of  the  scope  of  the  teach- 
ings of  the  book  will  correct  all  mistakes  of  all  parties 
for,  "we  can  do  nothing  against  the  truth,  but  for  the 
truth,"  which  may  or  may  not  need  human  endorse- 
ment according  as  the  Master  may  determine. 

I  think  if  your  lordship  should  critically  test  the 
good  points  in  the  book  and  recommend  the  emenda- 
tion of  the  objectionable  authors  named  (remember- 
ing that  none  of  the  letters  were  intended  by  the 
author  for  general  readers)  you  would  only  do  yourself 
justice  and  aid  very  much  in  setting  Mr.  Moody  right, 
as  to  the  real  merits  of  the  book  itself. 

Yours  very  truly, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 

Mr.  Moody  wrote  about  an  English  loan  for 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  building  as  follows,  showing  his 
great  good  sense  in  financial  matters  in  acting 
so  as  not  to  injure  his  religious  work: 

BANFF,  August  5,  1874. 

My  dear  Farwell:  The  last  fire  has  settled  the 
question  of  my  getting  a  loan  for  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
building  in  this  country.  They  think  Chicago  is 


u8  Early  Recollections  0}  Moody 

doomed  and  will  not  believe  there  is  any  good  in  it, 
so  you  will  have  to  look  in  another  direction.  I  don't 
want  Satan  to  get  the  advantage  of  me  in  any  way 
here  in  Scotland.  He  has  done  all  he  can  to  destroy 
my  influence,  and  God  has  stood  by  me  as  well  as 
yourself  and  many  of  my  friends  in  Chicago,  for  which 
I  am  most  grateful,  and  thank  God  often  that  I  have 
so  good  friends.  I  think  of  you  all  often,  and  shall 
be  glad  to  get  back  to  you  all  again. 

The  work  goes  on  here  in  Scotland  this  summer  fully 
as  well  as  winter.  Great  crowds  all  the  time  and 
many  enquirers  every  day.  I  hope  to  go  to  Belfast  on 
the  ist  of  September  if  all  is  well.  I  hope  you  will 
continue  to  pray  for  me,  that  God  may  bless  and  keep 
me  near  the  Cross. 

Love  to  all  your  dear  family, 

D.  L.  MOODY. 

December,  i6th,  1874. 

Dear  Brother  Moody:  I  attended  a  prayer  meeting 
of  ministers  of  all  denominations  in  Clark  Street 
lecture  room  on  Monday,  which  is  to  be  continued. 
I  felt  like  shouting  the  Doxology  when  I  read  the 
notice  of  it,  and  then  when  the  theme  of  the  meeting 
was — the  gift  of  the  Spirit, — I  felt  as  though  the 
mighty  rushing  wind  from  God  out  of  heaven  by  the 
way  of  Scotland  and  Ireland  had  just  begun  to  breathe 
on  Chicago.  I  cannot  go  into  a  meeting  anywhere 
that  your  name  has  not  come  up  when  considering  the 
possibilities  of  the  Christian  faith  in  God's  work. 
Who  are  these  that  have  turned  the  world  upside 
down?  is  the  question,  and  every  time  the  gift  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  the  proclamation  of  truth  is  declared  to 


Early  Recollections  oj  Moody  119 

be  the  key  to  the  mystery.  Just  two  fishermen  cast- 
ing their  nets  on  the  right  side  of  the  ship  at  the 
command  of  the  Master. 

J.  V.  F. 

December  5th,  1874. 

Dear  Brother  Stuart:  I  read  with  much  interest 
the  little  article  on  your  brother's  life.  The  sketch  is 
brief,  but  the  facts  of  it  such  as  one  would  expect  to 
exist  in  connection  with  a  brother  of  yours. 

Many  of  the  quiet  lives,  when  unveiled  reveal  a 
mantle  of  benevolence,  and  far  reaching  wisdom,  not 
common  to  our  race. 

Your  circle  is  one  less  for  conflict,  one  more  for 
victory  and  rest,  and  from  the  divine  side,  you  are  the 
gainer  as  well  as  he,  for  our  Father  does  nothing  by 
chance  in  dealing  with  his  children.  Humanly  speak- 
ing, you  mourn,  Christianly,  looking  at  the  race  ended, 
and  the  crown  won,  you  can  but  rejoice  in  spirit  with 
him,  as  in  that  land  where  all  tears  are  wiped  from 
our  eyes  and  where  there  is  no  more  death. 

It  also  reminds  us  who  are  left  that  what  we  do,  we 
must  do  quickly. 

I  never  felt  so  much  the  importance  and  the  privi- 
lege of  being  on  the  walls  with  sword  in  one  hand  and 
trowel  in  the  other,  "over  against  my  own  house."  I 
have  thought  of  you  often  the  past  year,  in  my  Sunday 
trips  into  the  country  in  the  interest  of  Sunday  Schools. 
You  and  Brother  Moody  by  divine  grace  have  stirred 
some  of  my  "dry  bones"  by  your  example  and  words. 
I  have  two  letters  from  Moody  lately.  He  says,  "The 
work  increased."  What  a  crown  awaits  that  man. 
Whittle  and  Bliss  are  at  Pittsburg.  Can't  you  go 


I2O  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

over  there  and  hold  up  their  hands  while  battling? 
You  will  like  them  both.  Moody  is  very  largely  sup- 
porting them  from  money  given  him  for  his  own  use, 
believing  that  the  Lord  wants  them  in  the  work  and 
that  there  are  great  things  in  store  for  this  country. 
Is  not  the  cloud  like  a  man's  hand,  seen  from  our 
Carmel? 

Yours  very  truly, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

February  24th,  1875. 

My  dear  Brother  Cole:  Thanks  for  your  short  note 
placed  in  my  hands  at  parting.  I  am  now  come  from 
the  King's  banqueting  house,  which  though  so  far  is 
yet  so  near  to  all  who  desire  to  enter  in  and  commune 
with  Him.  That  you  have  linked  my  name  with 
others  of  His  friends  in  those  heart  feasts  inside  the 
rent  veil  "when  friend  holds  fellowship"  with  the 
friend  that  sticketh  closer  than  a  brother,  is  very  sweet 
to  me,  and  so  I  thank  him  for  helping  you  to  pray  for 
such  an  unworthy  member  of  the  King's  household 
and  to  assure  you  that  I  have  more  than  once  felt  that 
some  one  was  praying  for  me  when  my  heart  has  been 
strangely  warmed  without  any  concurrent  faith  of  my 
own  in  the  matter.  "Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens 
and  so  fulfill  the  law  of  Christ."  Pray  for  one  of  our 
young  men  who  is  just  where  Sidle  Jones  is.  (The 
young  man  I  talked  with  at  Mr.  Fulsom's.)  I  think 
he  is  very  near  the  Kingdom. 

I  asked  the  meeting  to  pray  for  your  work  this 
week.  I  hope  you  see  some  of  those  strong  men  in- 
tellectually, but  to  see  how  little  they  know  of  God's 
wisdom  in  saving  men,  and  be  willing  to  become  little 


Early  Recollections  o)  Moody  121 

children  that  they  may  graduate  in  the  school  of 
Christ.  Moorehouse  led  the  meeting  Tuesday  and 
was  intensely  interested  in  your  being  used  to  save 
sinners.  The  room  was  full.  Mrs.  Van  Cott  holds 
a  noon  meeting  and  is  at  Peck's  Church  on  the  West 
side  in  the  evening.  I  am  impressed  with  the  idea  that 
I  can  reach  some  young  men  in  the  basement  of  his 
church  Sunday  evening,  will  you  pray  if  the  way 
should  be  open  that  the  Master  may  use  me.  My 
kind  regards,  please,  to  all  the  "workers  with  God" 
who  are  trying  to  exalt  Christ  and  His  Word. 

Yours  truly,  J.  V.  FARWELL. 

February  24,  1875. 

My  dear  Brother  Stuart:  I  have  been  in  Wisconsin 
a  week  with  Brother  Cole,  who  has  taken  Brother 
Moody's  place  in  the  Association  work,  since  he  left 
us.  I  have  sent  him  out  twice  now  to  fill  promises 
that  I  had  made  for  myself  and  could  not  meet.  This 
last  place  I  have  been  with  him  for  a  week  he  having 
been  there  a  week  before  I  could  go.  The  first  place 
I  sent  him  he  went  for  a  three  days'  meeting  and  stayed 
six  weeks,  and  over  400  were  brought  to  Cnrist.  The 
ministers  actually  opposed  him  in  the  beginning  and 
told  him  to  close  one  week  before  he  did.  He  simply 
said,  "Can  I  and  the  Lord  have  the  use  of  the  Church 
for  another  week."  This  was  granted  and  the  most 
powerful  work  of  the  six  weeks  was  during  this  one 
week  in  which  weakness  and  strength  went  into  part- 
nership to  do  business  for  eternity. 

At  Baraboo  when  he  was  in  the  University  all 
opposed  union.  Sunday  night  last  they  all  came 
together  in  the  Church,  where  of  all  others  they 


122  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

declared  they  would  not  unite.  It  was  crowded,  base- 
ment and  audience  room  with  two  meetings,  and  on 
Monday  night  at  a  converts  meeting  fifty-five  young 
men  and  women  rose  and  in  a  few  words  confessed 
Christ,  and  then  all  that  wished  to  confess  Him  and 
had  not  were  asked  to  do  so  simply  by  rising,  and  all 
but  four  or  five  rose  at  once.  See  what  the  Lord  does 
when  men  clear  the  tracks  of  selfishness  and  let  the 
car  of  salvation  move  forward.  It  was  another  ex- 
emplification to  me  of  our  dear  Brother  Moody 's  use 
fulness  and  his  power  in  prayer.  It  was  a  great  thing 
for  him  to  leave  all  his  work  here  of  a  missionary  char- 
acter in  the  hands  of  a  new  convert,  and  that  man 
a  drunkard  before  his  conversion.  But  God  has 
honored  his  faith  and  here  is  where  I  wish  just  to 
thank  God  with  you  that  your  Brother  John  (good 
man  that)  has  found  it  in  his  heart  to  do  for  Man- 
chester what  God  helped  me  to  do  for  Chicago,  in  the 
organization  on  a  financial  basis  of  a  union  of  the 
young  men  of  all  churches  for  work,  and  now  if  the 
young  men  are  faithful  to  that  union,  God  will  raise 
up  for  them  a  standard  bearer.  I  am  filled  with 
gratitude  when  I  think  what  the  Lord  has  done 
through  our  association  in  making  workers.  Moody 
and  Sankey,  Whittle  and  Bliss,  and  now  Cole, — a  red 
hot  coal  too,  with  the  fire  of  the  Spirit.  He  told  those 
ministers  that  "he  was  led  of  the  Spirit  to  say  they 
must  go  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  this  week." 
They  doubted  (not  in  thought)  but  taunted  him  with 
presumption  in  putting  the  leadings  of  his  mind 
against  all  the  ministers.  Wasn't  it  sweet  to  have 
them  all  come  round  to  him  and  say  "We  were  wrong, 
you  were  right." 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  123 

He  feels  drawn  towards  London  and  I  am  sure  that 
if  he  does  go,  that  he  would  do  a  great  work  in  Phila- 
delphia, if  he  had  two  weeks  there  before  he  goes. 

There  are  very  few  such  men  in  the  ranks  of  the 
church,  led  consciously  by  the  Spirit  of  truth  into 
paths  of  great  usefulness.  Do  not  these  facts  say  to 
one  and  all,  "Rise,  shine,  for  thy  light  is  come"? 

There  must  be  great  in-gatherings,  if  the  tokens  in 
Scotland  and  England  mean  anything,  and  the  means 
there  used  ought  to  teach  the  Universal  Church  where 
the  line  of  march  leads  them  in  this  work. 

I  was  never  so  impressed  with  this  thought  as  while 
laboring  with  Brother  Cole  in  Baraboo.  We  must  let 
the  Spirit  lead  and  be  sure  that  we  are  thus  led  before 
we  shall  see,  even  the  bright  and  morning  star,  saying 
nothing  about  the  noonday  sun  of  righteousness,  to 
lead  us  into  the  day's  work  that  is  before  us,  after  we 
have  been  awakened  out  of  the  death  and  darkness  of 
a  dead  faith,  into  one  that  works  with  God  for  the 
salvation  of  sinners,  which  is  the  only  way  that  our 
works  are  made  effectual. 

Now  my  dear  brother,  excuse  this  long  letter  and 
don't  mistake  my  thought  as  though  I  was  in  any 
manner  teaching  my  teacher  (for  such  I  regard  you 
in  my  heart)  but  simply  expressing  my  own  thoughts 
in  connection  with  one  of  Moody's  gospel  children 
at  work.  With  love, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 

February  25,  1875. 

Dear  Brother  Moody:  While  I  cannot  expect  you 
to  lay  aside  for  a  moment  your  great  work  to  write 
letters  even  to  friends,  I  must  say  I  like  to  see  your 


124  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

handsome  penmanship  occasionally.  It  is  my  ambi- 
tion to  try  and  improve  (which  is  quite  important)  but 
if  you  knew  how  it  serves  to  quicken  and  straighten 
my  steps  in  the  race  for  the  great  prize  as  well  as  to 
lay  aside  the  weights  I  have  to  carry,  while  I  realize 
how  you  are  surrounded  with  so  great  a  cloud  of  wit- 
nesses astonished  alike  with  your  rapid  pace  as  well 
as  their  own  flagging  gait  in  contending  for  the  mas- 
tery over  the  world,  and  the  God  of  it,  I  think  you 
would  just  start  off  " Moody 's  epistle  to  John"  as 
often  as  possible,  with  the  hope  that  through  riches 
of  grace  in  Christ  he  might  at  least  walk  honestly  if  he 
does  not  run  well  .and  grandly,  like  some  of  your 
spiritual  children,  and  this  brings  me  to  one  of  those 
of  whom  you  will  be  glad  to  hear,  and  so  will  drop 
"  John"  and  take  up  "  James"  and  Cole — real  anthra- 
cite coal — thoroughly  on  fire,  red  hot. 

I  sent  him  to  Baraboo  two  weeks  ago  last  Tuesday, 
where  I  had  agreed  to  go  and  could  not,  until  a  week 
later.  He  found  four  churches  all  jealous  of  each 
other  and  determined  not  to  unite,  began  with  the 
Presbyterian  and  in  a  few  days  they  concluded  they 
could  unite  if  they  could  agree  on  the  M.  E.  Church 
as  the  rallying  point,  but  never  in  the  Presbyterian 
church.  This  was  done  and  a  very  large  gathering  of 
Sunday  School  children  was  the  result.  Brother  Cole 
then  told  them  thatif  the  meetings  were  longer  continued 
they  must  go  to  the  Presbyterian  Church.  This  was 
on  Saturday.  The  ministers  all  said  no,  that  would 
break  up  the  union.  Well,  says  Cole,  after  services 
Sunday  morning,  you  will  all  give  notice  of  a  union 
meeting  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  With  strong 
opposition  and  no  faith  in  its  success,  they  finally  con- 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  125 

sented,  as  it  was  for  only  a  week,  and  the  church 
above  and  in  basement  was  jammed  till  there  was  no 
standing  room  and  on  Monday  morning  nearly  100 
young  men  and  women  and  two  drunkards  confessed 
Christ  before  men,  with  new  tongues,  speaking  the 
language  of  Sons,  and  not  aliens.  It  was  sweet  to  see 
the  ministers  one  by  one  say  to  Brother  Cole — you 
were  right,  we  were  wrong.  His  personal  experience 
and  his  childlike  faith,  grasping  the  guiding  hand  of 
the  husbandman,  in  working  his,  vineyard,  marks  a 
workman  that  needeth  not  to  be  ashamed  of  his  work. 
Over  two  hundred  before  I  left  had  felt  the  Sword  of 
the  Spirit,  wielded  by  his  trusting  arm  of  faith.  In 
Moline  and  Rock  Island  over  400  were  led  to  Christ 
from  under  the  same  kind  of  hindrances  by  his  bold- 
ness in  assuming  that  God  and  himself  wanted  the 
church  to  continue  the  work  after  the  ministers  had 
said,  "Close  the  meetings." 

I  mention  these  things  to  show  how  you  were  led  in 
placing  him  under  your  mantle  when  you  left  for  Eu- 
rope. He  is  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude  in  faith  and 
purpose,  and  if  I  mistake  not  he  will  yet  be,  as  a 
teacher  of  the  Word.  He  is  quick  to  see  a  point  and 
practical  to  make  use  of  it,  and  illustrates  well — all 
of  which  go  a  great  way  to  make  sure  of  what  a  man 
needs,  to  go  forward  in  the  great  work  he  has  chosen — 
all  of  which  is  based  on  faith  in  God's  word  and  pur- 
pose in  the  revelation  of  his  son.  I  wrote  to  Brother 
Stuart  that  if  he  should  go  to  London  (he  feels  drawn 
that  way)  that  he  could  do  them  good  in  Philadelphia 
for  two  weeks  or  more  before  he  should  embark. 

Moorehouse  is  here  and  preaches  in  the  Hall  Sun- 
day nights.  The  noon  meetings  are  well  maintained. 


126  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

Whittle  and  Bliss  are  having  blessed  times  in  Louis 
ville.  2,500  young  men  were  in  one  meeting.  Whit- 
tle is  pure  gold  but  I  think  Cole  is  more  attractive  in 
his  manner  of  presenting  the  truth.  You  need  not  be 
ashamed  of  either  of  them  though.  Whom  the  Lord 
endorses  with  His  hand  ("Ye  are  workers  together  with 
God")  of  power  in  the  new  birth,  and  then  the  new 
living  of  those  for  whom  they  labor  and  pray — surely 
we  can  afford  to  write  our  poor  name  right  under  the 
King's  and  bid  them  Good  speed. 

If  my  wife's  health  is  firm  enough  to  enable  her  to 
consent  to  have  me  leave  home,  I  intend  to  come  over 
in  March,  if  the  Lord  will,  and  let  Him  polish  me  a 
little  among  the  many  living  stones  which  He  has  set 
for  the  defense  of  His  truth  in  that  wonderful  island 
of  the  sea,  whence  the  pilgrims  came  to  make  a  home 
so  near  where  you  first  saw  the  light,  of  this  life  and 
the  next.  My  best  regards  to  Mrs.  Moody  and  the 
little  ones,  with  prayers  for  your  continued  success, 
Yours  in  Christian  fellowship, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

A  DOG  FIGHTER  AND  A  SOCIETY  LADY  CONVERTED 
IN  LONDON 

Office 
Haymarket  Opera  House,  S.  W. 

LONDON,  May  17,  1875. 
Messrs.  Moody  and  Sankey's  Meetings. 
My  dear  Wife:    The  meetings  here  at  the  Opera 
House  are  very  interesting.     Saturday  night  over  500 
rose,  instantly,  to  say  that  they  wanted  Christ.    When 
you  consider  that  this  is  the  Court  end  of  London,  and 
all  come  in  on  tickets,  and  none  but  West  End  people 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  127 

get  them,  it  is  very  remarkable  indeed.  "The  com- 
mon people  heard  him  gladly,"  and  it  seems  that  the 
rich  people  are  also  hearing  the  Gospel  with  great 
avidity.  There  were  6,000  Christian  workers  to- 
gether at  the  East  End  Hall  before  breakfast  yesterday 
morning,  and  it  was  turned  into  a  prayer-meeting 
largely,  and  I  never  saw  such  a  meeting.  The  after- 
noon and  evening  meetings  were  crowded,  and  thou- 
sands went  away  who  could  not  get  in.  In  the  evening 
there  were  hundreds  rose  for  prayers,  and  weeping 
said,  "Pray  for  us." 

One  very  intelligent  man  rose  to  say  that  he  was  a 
converted  "dog  fighter."  Had  been  converted  by 
hearing  the  Gospel  in  these  services.  He  had  drowned 
his  dogs  and  given  up  matches  for  ^10  for  to-day  (a 
holiday  in  London)  and  instead  of  being  at  the  dog 
fights,  he  was  in  the  Noon  Prayer-meeting,  asking 
Christians  to  pray  for  him  that  he  might  be  a  faithful 
Christian, — said  he  had  made  up  his  mind  not  to  be 
a  half  and  half  soldier,  and  so  he  had  set  up  prayer  in 
his  house,  and  had  determined  to  live  consistently. 
The  cases  of  conversions  related  in  the  converts  meet- 
ing are  very  striking  some  of  them.  I  have  met  some 
very  remarkable  men  here,  whose  work  and  faith 
seem  almost  marvelous.  A  great  many  women  here 
preach  and  work  as  Christians,  some  of  them  very 
high  in  position  and  influence. 

I  hope  there  will  be  more  of  this  on  our  side, — a 
remarkable  case  occurred  in  the  Opera  House.  A 
very  fine  lady  of  wealth  and  position,  was  very  signally 
converted,  and  said  to  Mr.  Moody  that  she  had  been 
only  a  "magnificent  doll,"  t  dressing  and  holding 
levees  for  fashionable  people,  and  had  literally  worse 


128  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

than  thrown  her  life  away,  but  she  now  saw  a  way  to 
use  her  means  and  intelligence,  in  a  way  to  honor  her 
Master,  and  the  God  given  talents  she  possessed. 
Hundreds  of  such  cases  will  be  the  result  of  these  meet- 
ings for  the  aristocracy.  Isn't  it  marvelous?  How 
poor  are  the  compensations  of  a  fashionable  life  in 
which  so  much  money  and  talent  are  literally  thrown 
away.  I  think  my  observations  of  men  in  this  work, 
will  be  the  main  profit  of  my  journey.  The  old  places 
and  scenes  may  make  a  little  impression,  but  the 
moral  and  intellectual  levers  here  finding  their  ful- 
crum, are  what  seem  to  be  a  new  evolution  to  my 
mind. 

Affectionately  yours, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

September  6,  1875. 

Dear  Moody:  I  got  your  wife's  letter  about  the 
house,  and  while  it  may  be  the  only  wise  thing  to  do 
to  be  a  pilgrim  and  a  sojourner  for  the  present,  I  hope 
you  will  find  it  to  be  the  Lord's  plan  when  you  do 
settle  down  to  lodge  with  your  most  unworthy  fellow 
traveler,  though  I  cannot  find  it  in  my  heart  to  deter 
you  from  finding  a  more  inviting  home  than  I  can  give 
you,  if  such  should  seem  to  be  the  best  place  for  the 
highest  usefulness  of  your  time  and  talents. 

I  have  been  thinking,  in  view  of  the  expressed  op- 
position from  some  ministers,  that  an  evangelistic 
committee  composed  of  ministers  and  laymen,  through 
whom  all  minor  evangelists  should  work  in  the  North- 
west, would  be  a  very  desirable  thing  to  have.  What 
do  you  think  of  such  a  proposition?  You  know  good 
men  have  their  crotchets,  and  if  we  can  make  a  saw- 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  129 

horse  of  them  in  any  way,  I  think  the  Lord  will  en« 
dorse  the  movement. 

I  don't  get  your  answer  to  the  camp  meeting  as- 
sociation Committee  yet.  I  can  say  pretty  confi- 
dently that  the  Association  stands  better  before 
the  community  than  it  has  since  the  fire.  The  meet- 
ings that  I  had  in  the  Hall  and  one  in  Highland  Park 
were  very  large  and  very  attentive.  My  health  is 
much  improved,  and  I  want  to  be  doing  something 
positive  for  the  Master.  If  this  Evangelistic  Com- 
mittee could  in  some  way  be  connected  with  Miss 
Dryer's  work,  as  a  nucleus,  it  would  interest  earnest 
Christian  men  and  women  of  all  denominations  in 
her  work,  as  well  as  the  general  work  for  the  whole 
Northwest.  I  expect  to  go  to  Ottawa  next  week. 

If  you  can  give  a  few  thoughts  to  this  subject,  write 
me.    With  kind  regards  for  your  family,  I  am, 
Yours  very  truly, 

John  V.  Farwell.   - 

September  28th,  1875. 

Dear  Moody:  I  improve  a  few  moments  to  write 
you  by  Brother  Spafford,  who  will  give  you  the  main 
reason  why  I  did  not  accompany  him  and  Brother 
Goodwin.  The  indications  were  never  so  good  in 
my  judgment  as  they  are  now  for  a  revival.  The 
noon  meetings  are  constantly  increasing  in  numbers 
and  interest  and  some  few  are  inquiring  the  way  in 
them.  To-day  there  were  four.  I  have  just  re- 
turned from  the  Mayor's  Office  and  Board  of  Public 
Works  making  inquiries  about  the  exposition  build- 
ing. The  mayor  said  there  were  no  objections  to  it? 
use,  and  that  if  he  could  serve  me  he  should  be  glad  to 


130  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

do  so.  Prindiville  (Catholic)  of  the  Board  of  Public 
Works  said  there  was  no  objection.  The  necessary 
funds  will  be  forthcoming. 

acted  as  though  he  didn't  want   you  to 

come,  but  finally  proposed  the  very  thing  above  all 
others  that  I  know  would  have  pleased  you,  and  that 
was  that  the  meetings  be  commenced  at  once,  and 
that  whether  you  came  or  not,  there  should  be  nothing 
left  undone  that  could  be  done,  by  ministers  and  lay- 
men to  bring  the  blessings  of  a  sweeping  revival. 
The  sentiment  electrified  the  meeting,  and  they  voted 
unanimously  to  instruct  the  Committee  appointed  to 
make  preparations  for  your  coming,  to  inaugurate 
revival  meetings  at  once.  Our  Committee  meets  on 
Thursday  afternoon,  and  I  hope  that  this  first  effort 
of  the  evening  will  only  be  a  sample  of  all  others  in 
their  results,  and  really  I  think  it  will  be  so.  Every- 
where that  I  go  I  find  mellow  hearts,  and  willing  hands 
to  help  do  the  Lord's  work.  I  wish  I  lived  in  town 
for  this  winter  at  least.  I  may  come  down  for  a 
month  or  more  when  the  meetings  begin  in  earnest. 

I  need  not  tell  you  how  glad  I  would  be  to  mingle 
my  voice  with  yours  and  the  dear  brethren  who  have 
been  sent  to  see  you  on  these  great  matters,  but  I  shall 
be  with  you  in  spirit  and  trust  that  you  may  be  led  to 
decide  just  right  for  the  interests  of  the  cause  in  the 
whole  country  as  to  where  you  go  first. 

Yours  very  truly  in  Christian  bonds, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

October  6,  1875. 

Dear  Moody:  The  noon  meetings  this  week  held 
in  the  large  half  have  been  large  and  very  interesting, 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  131 

and  the  committee  meeting  this  p.  m.  was  also  very 
encouraging,  more  so  than  anything  I  have  seen,  as 
they  proceeded  to  business,  and  asked  the  ministers 
to  request  Brother  Whittle  to  commence  and  take 
charge  of  a  series  of  afternoon  meetings  in  Farwell 
Hall.  If  they  do  this,  ministers  and  laymen  are 
pledged  to  sustain  him  as  the  leader  in  every  way.  If 
the  noon  meetings  next  week  and  these  afternoon 
meetings  are  well  attended  and  full  of  spirit,  we  may 
look  for  a  great  blessing,  and  I  believe  there  will  be. 
I  have  felt  sometimes  that  I  would  pay  all  the  bills 
myself  rather  than  not  have  you  come  and  have  a 
jubilee  time  in  Chicago,  where  you  have  only  fished 
for  men  with  a  hook  and  line,  and  I  want  to  see  you 
put  in  the  net  on  the  right  side  of  the  ship  and  gather 
in  the  multitudes  who  need  salvation. 

Mr.  Porter,  the  oldest  minister  of  Chicago  in  service, 
stated  in  the  noon  meeting  to-day,  that  his  daughter 
in  China  had  read  two  of  your  printed  sermons  sent 
to  her  from  London  to  her  audience  in  Chinese,  and 
one  woman  said  to  her  that  it  was  the  most  heart 
searching  sermon  she  had  ever  listened  to,  and  an- 
other said,  "I  wish  you  would  have  them  printed  in 
Chinese  so  we  could  spread  them  among  our  people." 
So  you  see  that  Daniels  in  writing  your  history,  and 
the  sermon  thieves  you  have  fought  so  manfully,  were 
at  work  for  the  Lord,  though  perhaps  they  may  have 
only  worked  for  themselves. 

You  don't  know  what  power  there  is  in  printers' 
ink,  in  that  way  even.  I  thank  God  every  time  I 
think  how  He  is  using  you  and  Cole  and  Whittle,  and 
remember  the  way  He  has  led  you  all,  just  to  con- 
found human  wisdom  in  planning  for  God's  work 


132  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

and  set  up  a  standard,  measured  only  by  the  desires 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  is  the  only  preacher  of  right- 
eousness that  will  ever  reach  men's  hearts. 

In  haste  and  with  lots  of  love  and  kind  regards  for 
you  and  yours,  I  am,  a  poor  sinner  saved  by  grace , 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

October  2ist,  1875. 
C.  M.  MORTON,  ESQ., 

My  dear  Brother:  At  the  State  Convention  of 
Y.  M.  C.  Associations  at  Jacksonville,  I  was  ap- 
pointed Chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee  to  or- 
ganize the  state.  The  program  being  to  turn  the 
work  into  evangelistic  channels,  forming  Associations 
where  the  way  opens.  They  voted  to  raise  $3,000  for 
a  permanent  secretary  and  other  incidental  expenses, 
and  authorized  me  to  write  you  to  take  the  position 
of  Bishop  of  Illinois  under  this  church  of  the  first 
born,  taking  in  all  who  love  our  Lord  in  sincerity. 
The  position  is  an  honorable  one.  Leader  of  all  the 
union  hosts  of  this  great  state,  is  no  mean  calling. 

I  am  greatly  encouraged  in  the  outlook  and  believe 
that  the  state  is  ripe  for  a  great  work. 

Can  you  come,  and  will  you  come?  Write  me  as 
soon  as  possible.  We  have  a  meeting  first  week  in 
November. 

Best  love  to  Moody  and  Sankey  and  all  the  dear 
friends  who  are  holding  up  his  hand  in  the  coming 
battle.  Yours  very  truly, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

October  25th,  1875. 

Dear  Brother  Morton:  I  have  yours  of  the  23rd, 
and  note  your  inquiries.  My  thought  is  that  you 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  133 

would  not  be  required  to  raise  money.     That  should 
be  done  by  local  committees. 

The  sooner  you  could  come,  the  better,  but  in  case 
you  decide  to  come,  you  would  fix  the  time  you  could 
be  here,  and  we  would  work  to  that  in  our  calculations. 
You  would  be  under  the  direction  of  the  Executive 
Committee,  nominally,  but  the  expectation  on  my 
part  would  be,  that  you  would  direct  the  Executive 
Committee,  just  as  Moody  does  his  Committees. 
That  is  you  would  be  Major  General  in  the  field,  and 
we  would  be  orderlies  to  extend  and  widen  the  field 
of  your  operations. 

I  am  delighted  that  the  work  pleases  you  in  pros- 
pect, and  I  pray  the  Lord  of  the  Harvest  that  the  Har- 
vest hour  may  multiply  your  joys  a  million  fold,  for 
I  believe  the  fields  are  truly  white  to  the  harvest. 
The  body  of  the  hall  was  full  of  young  men  (mostly) 
last  night  to  hear  my  poor  words,  and  I  believe  that 
it  can  be  filled  every  Sunday  night  to  the  roof  with  a 
little  earnest  effort.  I  also  rejoiced  to  hear  that 
the  meetings  in  Brooklyn  have  opened  so  auspiciously. 
I  shall  look  anxiously  for  the  reports  of  the  week  day 
meetings,  as  indicating  the  sober  second  thought  of 
the  people  concerning  the  work.  If  they  come  in 
throngs  week  nights  and  continue  to  do  so,  then  there 
will  be  a  repetition  of  old  England's  scenes  in  the  new 
world,  and  the  saying  that  a  prophet  is  not  without 
honor,  save  in  his  own  country,  will  be  controverted 
in  this  instance  at  least.  Ask  Moody  to  advise  you 
in  regard  to  this  proposition  and  me  also  as  Chairman 
of  the  Committee.  We  don't  want  to  make  any  mis- 
takes in  regard  to  it.  Yours  very  truly, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 


134  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

October  2ist,  1875. 

Dear  Brothers  Whittle  and  Bliss:  I  am  instructed 
by  the  ministers  and  laymen  to  write  you  to  come  here 
and  hold  union  services  as  early  as  you  can  do  so.  I 
have  been  out  of  town  or  I  should  have  attended  to  it 
before.  We  have  had  several  meetings  and  with  few 
exceptions  the  expressions  have  all  been  cordial 
for  a  union  work  this  winter.  The  Methodists, 
after  meeting  and  voting  for  them,  have  employed 
"California"  Taylor,  who  was  with  Moody  in  London 
(but  was  not  a  success  there)  and  will  probably  draw 
off  from  the  union.  Other  single  churches  may  also 
do  so,  but  I  believe  there  is  a  growing  desire  here  for 
a  work  of  grace.  Write  me  as  soon  as  you  can. 
I  am  delighted  to  hear  that  so  many  are  becoming 
real  co-laborers  with  the  Master  and  yourself. 

May  the  good  Lord  add  many  more  of  them  to  the 
great  army  of  laborers.  Yours  very  truly, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

Mr.  Moody  never  allowed  any  one  to  canvass 
for  money  for  his  own  personal  use.  All  that 
ever  came  to  him  came  as  the  offerings  for  the 
wilderness  tabernacle  came,  as  "free  will  offerings," 
from  those  who  had  been  built  into  the  living 
temple,  as  living  stones  by  his  ministry.  Perhaps 
no  such  financial  record  was  ever  made  since  the 
days  of  the  Apostles.  The  workman  is  worthy  of 
his  hire,  but  souls  was  his  chief  reward,  and  these 
were  constrained  by  love,  to  "minister  to  him  of 
their  substance,"  who  had  received  eternal  riches 
as  the  result  of  his  work  for  them. 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  135 

Mr.  Moody  at  one  time  intended  to  pay  off  the 
Association  debt,  incurred  for  the  building  erected 
while  he  was  in  London,  from  hymn-book  money, 
as  the  following  letter  will  show,  written  while  at 
work  in  Brooklyn.  His  great  heart  could  not 
bear  to  have  his  old  training  school  in  debt ; 

BROOKLYN,  October  25th,  1875. 
My  dear  Farwell:    If  you  can  hold  the  Association 
for  a  few  months,  I  think  we  can  lift  the  debt.    I  do 
not  want  you  to  say  anything,  but  I  think  we  will 
make  enough  from  the  hymn  book,  so  I  think  I  would 
let  the  matter  rest  where  it  is.    All  goes  well  here. 
Pray  daily  for  me.    I  never  needed  the  help  of  my 
friends  as  much  as  now. 
God  bless  you  richly, 

D.  L.  MOODY. 

October  3oth,  1875. 

Dear  Moody:  I  have  yours  in  regard  to  Associa- 
tion matters,  and  while  I  admire  your  self-sacrificing 
spirit  and  your  faith  in  the  source  named  as  the  way 
out,  I  am  still  convinced  that  if  the  matter  were 
properly  presented  in  England,  that  you  would  see 
not  only  a  willingness  but  a  strong  desire  to  follow 
you  home  to  your  own  stamping  ground,  the  scenes 
of  your  early  conflicts  and  victories  in  the  cause  of 
union  which  culminated  so  grandly  in  that  country 
under  your  leadership,  and  is  now  returning  with  you 
with  such  redoubled  energy  and  power  and  to  com- 
memorate the  work  with  a  monument  in  your  own 
city.  What  so  appropriate,  all  things  considered,  as 
to  place  the  Association  Building  (in  which  you  la- 


136  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

bored  so  successfully  and  the  destruction  of  which  the 
second  time  was  one  of  the  moving  causes  which  sent 
you  to  their  shores  with  the  blessed  message  of  salva- 
tion)  out  of  debt.  Some  of  your  friends  in  London 
asked  me  how  they  could  do  something  for  you  and 
not  offend  you.  If  you  should  write  me  a  letter  in 
answer  to  mine,  stating  your  desire  to  see  the  building 
free  from  debt  and  devoted  entirely  to  religious  work, 
and  that  you  expect  to  draw  from  the  fund  named,  to 
the  sacrifice  of  your  own  interest  in  it,  and  leave  me 
to  manage  the  rest. 

I  don't  want  you  to  sacrifice  your  interest  in  that 
fund  for  any  such  purpose,  when  it  can  be  more  ap- 
propriately done  in  some  other  way.  I  know  you 
have  a  way  and  a  mind  of  your  own,  which  is  I  be- 
lieve the  way  and  mind  of  the  Spirit  more  fully  than 
in  most  men,  but  in  this  thing  you  may  possibly  let 
your  fear  of  being  made  to  appear  in  the  role  of  a 
solicitor  for  funds,  stand  in  the  way  of  a  commendable 
scheme,  both  for  you  and  those  who  may  enter  into  it. 
I  can  manage  to  carry  the  debt,  but  at  the  same  time  I 
would  much  prefer  to  manage  to  have  it  liquidated. 
You  can  in  no  way  be  compromised  by  the  course 
I  name. 

Saw  Jacobs  yesterday.  Glad  to  hear  of  your 
counsel  together.  Love  to  you  and  yours, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

October  2ist,  1875. 

Dear  Moody:  I  don't  hear  anything  from  you  in 
reference  to  the  letter  you  suggested  I  should  write 
you,  concerning  the  needs  of  the  Association  and 
which  was  v/ritten  sometime  since  in  the  name  of 


Early  Recollections  oj  Moody  137 

the  Association,  and   by  request  of   the   Board   of 
Managers. 

Perhaps  you  had  nothing  to  say  on  the  subject  after 
second  thought.  I  prayed  over  the  matter  when 
was  here,  and  finally  gave  him  a  short  state- 
ment of  the  situation,  and  showed  him  copy  of  my 
letter  to  you,  and  after  that  simply  asked  him  to  think 
and  pray,  and  if  anything  occurred  to  him  as  a  proper 
thing  to  do  when  he  got  home,  to  write  me.  He  has  a 
wonderful  gift  of  perseverance,  and  if  he  begins  he 
will  end  it.  I  want  to  see  the  Association  Building 
free  of  debt,  and  a  corps  of  workers  entering  in  it  that 
will  command  the  love  and  sympathy  of  all  the 
churches,  and  if  you  can  set  in  motion  any  agencies 
in  England  that  will  accomplish  that  object,  it  will  be 
a  great  thing  to  do.  I  am  to  speak  in  the  Hall  Sunday 
night  to  young  men.  Pray  for  me  that  I  may  carry 
the  Lord's  message  to  them,  and  not  mine. 

I  spoke  to  the  Synod  of  Wisconsin  last  Sunday  night 
at  Baraboo,  and  the  Moderator  at  the  close  made  a 
short  address  which  indicated  that  he  was  going  home 
to  open  the  Scriptures  to  his  people  as  he  never  had 
done  before.  Many  asked  for  prayers.  I  hope  that 
Wisconsin  may  hear  the  trumpet  giving  no  uncertain 
sound  this  winter,  as  the  result  of  a  few  practical  facts 
given  to  that  people  in  honor  of  the  Lord's  word  and 
His  faithful  messengers.  I  shall  be  glad  to  hear  from 
you  on  the  matter  herein  mentioned  and  anything  of 
interest  that  may  be  in  your  heart.  I  am  thinking 
about  you  daily,  and  in  my  poor  way  holding  you  up 
before  the  mercy  seat  for  a  great  blessing  in  Brooklyn. 

Love  to  your  family, 

Yours  truly,  J.  V.  FARWELL. 


138  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

November  i8th,  1875. 
HENRY  WARD  BEECHER, 

Dear  Sir:  As  chairman  of  the  committee  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  of  this  state  to 
procure  a  state  secretary  I  have  corresponded  with 
C.  M.  Morton  to  take  that  position,  and  I  find  that 
one  of  the  hindrances  is  his  attachment  to  you,  be- 
cause of  your  unwillingness  to  part  with  him.  He 
has  a  big  heart,  and  it  is  full  of  gratitude  to  your  kind- 
ness in  opening  doors  of  unselfishness  for  him,  and  so 
I  make  bold  to  ask  you  to  help  him  to  come,  as  an- 
other token  of  your  high  appreciation  of  his  talents  in 
the  Lord's  work.  I  would  not  put  the  request  on  any 
lower  ground.  The  State  of  Illinois  wants  a  Bishop 
to  represent  the  unity  of  Christ's  body  in  the  same  way 
(on  a  smaller  scale)  that  Moody  is  doing  it.  Revival 
work  (and  union)  practically  set  forth  in  Young  Men's 
Christian  Associations  in  every  town  in  the  state  is  our 
aim.  Now  what  greater  work  can  the  Plymouth 
Church  do  than  to  return  one  we  have  lent  you  for 
a  season,  now  that  such  a  wide  field  is  open  for  him  to 
reap,  a  field  now  white  for  the  harvest? 

There  are  now  on  file  several  invitations  for  such 
work,  one  of  them  from  the  State  Normal  School, 
where  over  one  thousand  young  men  and  women  are 
preparing  for  teachers.  What  an  opening  for  "Char- 
ley" to  put  in  his  sickle!  Now  in  the  name  of  the 
Master  we  serve,  ask  him  for  guidance  in  this  matter, 
in  the  light  only  of  His  glory  in  the  salvation  of  men. 
Then ,  with  your  broad  views  of  things,  thus  charged 
for  a  decision,  I  shall  not  fear  the  result,  and  I  am 
sure  you  will  be  astonished  with  the  result  from  his 
work  in  this  field  of  effort,  and  bless  God  from  the 


Early  Recollections  oj  Moody  139 

bottom  of  your  heart  that  you  helped  to  prepare  a 
man  for  such  a  ministry  of  the  Gospel  of  Grace. 

Yours  very  truly, 
J.  V.  FARWELL. 


November  22nd,  1875. 
C.  M.  MORTON,  ESQ., 

My  dear  Brother:  Our  letters  seem  to  have  crossed 
each  other  twice,  but  neither  of  us  seems  to  be  cross 
over  it,  which  I  take  to  mean  that  we  are  coming  to- 
gether at  the  end  with  no  damage  to  either.  I  wrote 
Brother  Beecher  to  let  you  come  on  the  Lord's  draft 
and  help  you  in  it.  I  think  he  ought  to.  I  have 
answered  all  your  questions,  not  categorically,  but 
so  as  to  be  sure  you  will  come.  I  should  be  afraid  to 
fix  a  date,  and  I  want  you  to  be  afraid  to  stay  too  long 
in  Brooklyn. 

Yours  very  truly, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

December  i5th,  1875. 

My  dear  Brother  Morton:  I  have  yours  of  the  i3th, 
and  was  sadly  disappointed  and  yet  can  just  say — 
amen,  as  easily  as  if  my  own  mind  had  been  met.  I 
am  bound  to  believe  that  the  Master  of  assemblies  had 
led  you  to  the  right  conclusion  as  you  are  the  one  most 
interested  in  the  decision.  I  am  only  a  very  poor 
finger  board  in  the  King's  highway,  but  I  was  in  hope 
the  Lord  would  let  you  see  an  open  gate  into  our  pas- 
tures. As  he  has  not,  I  have  only  to  say,  God  bless 
you  abundantly  in  your  decision  and  make  the  Bethel 
like  the  one  of  old,  only  more  of  a  blessing  to  all  who 


140  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

enter  its  altars.  As  you  cannot  help  me  out  of  my 
office  in  seeking  a  bishop  of  Illinois,  I  have  a  request 
to  make  in  another  direction.  I  am  on  a  committee 
to  get  an  undershepherd  for  Lake  Forest,  111.,  and  we 
want  a  gospel  preacher  who  gives  the  whole  Bible 
without  any  sugar-coated  pills.  A  Bible  preacher, 
Oh!  how  we  all  need  that  bread,  and  how  little  we 
seek  for  it  as  a  race. 

See  Dr.  Hatfield,  and  if  you  can  get  any  informa- 
tion worth  writing  you  can  serve  me  in  that  way.  A 
young  man  preferred — $2,000  to  $3,000  is  the  salary 
we  could  pay — church  small,  but  the  University  proj- 
ect and  the  boys ,  and  young  ladies'  academy  now  in 
operation,  make  it  prospectively  a  very  important 
charge. 

And  now  let  me  say  also  that  if  you  get  an  assistant 
and  can  come  out  here  for  a  month  or  six  weeks,  any 
time,  as  a  "Plymouth  sledge  hammer,"  on  a  long 
handle,  to  help  break  stones  for  the  Master,  you  will 
find  the  latch  string  out.  Tell  Mr.  Beecher  that  I 
give  it  up,  two  against  one,  with  such  a  difference  in 
weight  of  metal,  is  too  much  for  me. 

Yours  very  truly, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 


November  2oth,  1875. 
REV.  W.  A.  BARTLETT, 

Dear  Sir:  My  attention  has  been  called  to  a  criti- 
cism of  Professor  Summers  upon  one  of  Mr.  Moody's 
illustrations  used  in  England  which  is  so  distorted  and 
does  him  and  the  South  so  great  injustice,  that  as  one 
of  Mr.  Moody's  earliest  admirers,  and  as  one  who  had 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  141 

heard  him  use  the  illustration  referred  to,  I  take  great 
pleasure  in  writing  to  you  as  a  friend  of  the  cause  he 
has  so  much  at  heart,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  you 
my  impressions  received  from  its  use.  A  sinner  sold 
under  sin  and  bound  by  the  law,  was  put  in  the  posi- 
tion of  one  awakened  and  desirous  of  freedom  from 
the  curse  of  a  broken  law,  and  to  show  the  work  to  be 
instantaneous,  he  pictures  the  slave  fleeing  to  Canada 
from  the  United  States  (where  the  law  held  him  as  a 
slave  and  would  return  him  to  his  master)  and  the 
moment  he  crossed  the  line  where  there  were  no  such 
laws,  he  was  a  free  man. 

"Now,"  said  Mr.  Moody,  "when  was  he  a  free- 
man? One  moment  he  was  a  slave,  the  next  he  was 
a  freeman,  and  so  faith  is  the  line  between  Egypt  and 
the  land  of  promise,  between  Satan's  laws  and  Christ's 
freeman."  The  fugitive  law  which  he  saw  in  opera- 
tion, left  its  impression  on  his  mind  so  strongly,  that 
in  England,  where  for  a  long  time  the  government  has 
done  its  utmost  to  put  down  slavery,  the  illustration 
was  one  that  would  be  understood.  That  he  ever  in- 
tended to  wound  any  one's  feelings  in  thus  using  an 
illustration  from  actual  life  among  us,  cannot  for  a 
moment  be  credited  by  any  one  who  has  the  least 
knowledge  of  his  character  and  work,  and  any  one 
in  the  South  who  would  so  construe  this  language 
without  that  knowledge,  does  himself  a  very  great 
injustice.  What  the  law  allowed  and  compelled  in 
the  worst  phase  of  slavery,  and  which  actually  existed, 
should  not  be  the  basis  of  criticism. 

Yours  very  truly, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 


142  Early  Recollections  0}  Moody 

January  3rd,  1876. 
REV.  W.  A.  BARTLETT, 

Dear  Brother:  I  have  yours  of  the  26th  and  note 
contents.  I  did  not  write  for  publication,  only  to  in- 
form a  mutual  friend  of  Mr.  Moody's  interest  in  the 
Master's  work,  as  to  the  impression  made  upon  an 
unprejudiced  mind  by  this  use  of  an  illustration 
which  had  been  unfairly  criticised. 

There  was  one  fact  that  I  neglected  to  mention  in 
my  first  letter,  and  that  is  that  I  heard  Mr.  Moody 
use  the  illustration  at  the  same  time  and  place  that 
provoked  the  criticism.  As  to  Dr.  Palmer,  no  one 
has  a  higher  appreciation  of  his  ability  and  Christian 
character  than  I  have.  I  have  heard  him  often. 
Neither  do  I  recognize  my  remark  as  unkind  in  the 
least  degree,  but  rather  complimentary  than  other- 
wise. 

The  fact  that  he  believes  as  he  does,  and  acts  as  he 
did  in  regard  to  the  war,  with  his  splendid  abilities 
and  Christian  boldness,  more  than  anything  else  in 
the  South,  indicated  to  my  mind  that  the  war  was 
the  Lord's  war  (and,  as  much  with  the  North  as  the 
South,  for  all  were  involved  in  the  sin  of  slavery)  and  I 
hold  that  nothing  but  religious  convictions  of  duty 
and  privilege,  could  have  fired  either  section  to  such 
deeds  of  valor  and  self-sacrifice  as  were  displayed. 
No  common  men  (simply  politicians)  could  rouse  the 
people  to  such  a  work.  The  only  mistake  that  Dr. 
Palmer  made  is  (in  my  judgment)  that  he  does  not  see 
God's  hand  in  using  him  for  such  a  result  as  the  war 
produced,  and  which  could  not  have  been  reached  in 
any  other  way.  I  believe  God  has  planted  our  na- 
tion to  be  one,  and  only  one  thing  that  prevented  in  a 


Early  Recollections  0}  Moody  143 

human  view,  He  has  removed,  and  the  duty  of  the 
hour  now,  is  to  heal  his  wounds,  with  His  ointment 
and  not  ours,  which  too  often  is  gall  and  bitterness 
from  that  "unruly  member  full  of  deadly  poison,"  and 
I  know  Mr.  Moody,  as  shown  in  the  incident  given 
you  with  Dr.  Palmer,  has  none  of  such  feelings. 

Yours  truly,  J.  V.  FARWELL. 

Mr.  Moody  called  on  Dr.  Palmer  when  in  New 
Orleans  doing  Evangelistic  work,  who  treated 
him  very  cavalierly,  without  in  the  least  degree 
disturbing  his  Christian  charity  and  equanimity. 
A  like  treatment  was  given  to  Major  Cole,  who 
also  left  in  his  study,  if  not  in  Dr.  Palmer's  mind, 
a  blessed  memory  of  Christian  charity  toward  one 
who  prayed  for  the  rebellion  to  succeed,  as  ear- 
nestly as  the  Major  fought  to  prevent  it. 

One  point  Mr.  Moody  intended  to  reach  in 
coming  to  Chicago  was  evidently  to  have  a  taber- 
nacle built  for  him  in  Chicago,  large  enough  to 
centralize  the  work  for  the  whole  city,  which  was 
done  in  due  time,  as  I  have  heretofore  sketched, 
but  he  did  not  then  think  that  the  building  of  that 
tabernacle,  and  the  influence  of  the  meetings  held 
in  it,  would  serve  as  God's  way  of  paying  the 
Association  debt,  as  it  did,  at  the  close  of  the 
meeting. 

Nothing  he  ever  did  seemed  to  do  him  so  much 
good,  as  to  see  this  home  of  young  men  for  re- 
ligious training,  built  and  rebuilt  by  his  own  work, 
for  the  first  time  free  of  debt. 


144  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

The  great  fire  that  destroyed  the  last  one,  and 
sent  him  to  England  a  religious  orphan  as  to  a 
working  home,  was  God's  plan  for  making  him 
the  world-wide  evangelistic  apostle  of  Christian 
unity,  as  well  as  His  agent  to  free  this  first  temple 
of  Christian  union  from  the  burden  of  debt. 

I  had  written  him  more  than  once  about  com- 
ing to  Chicago  for  evangelistic  work  without 
getting  any  reply,  and  so  in  answer  to  this  letter 
about  Kerr  and  Elsing  opened  the  subject  again. 

March  4th,  1876. 

Dear  Moody:  You  say  nothing  about  your  wishes 
for  Chicago,  which  indicate  to  me  that  you  have  no 
definite  idea  about  it.  If  you  can  give  a  poor  sinner 
a  little  advice,  if  he  does  hail  from  Chicago,  I  hope  it 
will  not  fix  you  so  your  stock  will  not  hold  out  for 
New  York,  though  I  am  sure  that  their  wants  are  very 
great. 

I  have  been  boiling  over  some  of  the  time  since  I 
came  home,  and  have  been  able  to  work  a  little  outside 
of  Chicago,  but  here  the  ice  is  so  thick  (almost  equal 
to  New  York)  that  I  am  somewhat  disheartened 
though  not  discouraged.  I  believe  the  good  time  will 
come  yet.  I  have  put  Rockwell  in  with  Van  Arsdale, 
and  I  think  they  make  a  most  excellent  combination. 
Now  if  we  can  get  Morton  for  the  flying  artillery  in 
the  state,  we  are  in  good  shape  to  welcome  you,  and 
it  has  occurred  to  me  that  our  State  Sunday  School 
Convention  in  May  will  be  the  time  for  you  to  come 
West  and  arouse  the  state  with  fire  from  above.  There 
will  be  a  host  of  delegates  from  every  part  of  the  state 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  145 

who  will  go  home  for  work.  Jacobs  will  send  you 
the  program  and  you  will  please  think  of  it.  When 
you  can  steal  half  a  minute  to  write  me  about  Chicago, 
I  shall  be  glad  to  get  it.  I  have  a  characteristic  letter 
from  Jack  Croft  in  Bombay  (The  Eton  student  con- 
verted in  Agricultural  Hall,  before  referred  to)  re- 
questing me  to  write  to  a  friend  of  his  at  Eton  and 
remember  him  especially  to  you.  I  have  more  than 
rejoiced  to  hear  of  your  success  in  New  York.  Kind 
regards  to  Brother  Dodge,  etc. 

Yours  sincerely, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

February  25th  1876,  Mr.  Moody  wrote  me  con- 
cerning two  young  men  who  were  converts  at  the 
noon  meeting  held  at  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  building, 
and  who  had  just  graduated  at  Princeton  and 
wanted  work  for  them,  and  had  written  him  as 
follows,  which  Mr.  Moody  forwarded  me  with 
his  suggestions. 

Dear  Farwell:  I  think  the  best  thing  we  can  do  is 
to  put  these  boys  into  our  state  work  in  Illinois  and 
keep  them  at  it  this  summer.  What  do  you  say? 
I  am  told  by  some  of  the  Princeton  professors  that 
they  have  done  more  to  bring  about  the  status  of 
good  feeling  in  the  college  than  any  one  else,  and  they 
ought  to  be  sent  into  the  Harvest  field,  and  we  ought 
to  keep  them  in  Illinois.  Let  me  know  what  you 
think. 

Yours  in  haste, 

MOODY. 


146  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

PRINCETON,  N.  J.,  February  25th,  1876. 
My  dear  Mr.  Moody:  Mr.  Elsing  and  I  have 
been  talking  that  matter  over.  From  the  very  first 
we  said  it  was  what  we  wanted.  If  the  Lord  leads  us 
to  go,  He  will  be  leading  two  very  weak  vessels  and 
yet  with  His  Spirit  good  will  be  done.  Our  choice 
of  location  would  be  either  in  the  far  west  among 
those  who  have  no  Gospel  teaching,  or  among  the 
miners  of  Pennsylvania,  or  Illinois.  Elsing  is  writing 
now  to  Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson,  Denver,  Colorado,  who 
is  general  missionary  for  all  that  western  country  in 
regard  to  going  out  there.  I  don't  know  that  there 
is  any  need  of  going  so  far,  though  we  want  your  ad- 
vice in  the  matter.  I  suppose  if  we  are  to  go  the 
Lord  will  provide  for  us.  He  must,  for  we  have  none. 
I'll  tell  you  just  how  we  feel  about  it.  We  must  have 
when  we  get  back  here  to  college  in  September  one 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  each,  above  all  expenses. 
If  not,  we  can't  get  along  in  college.  We  could  make 
that  by  working  in  Chicago,  and  it  seems  to  me  that 
if  the  Lord  ever  led  us  He  led  us  here  to  college,  and 
means  that  we  should  go  through.  You  see  while 
at  Lake  Forest  we  had  charge  of  a  little  church  in  the 
country  and  we  were  richly  blessed  in  working  there. 
Mr.  Farwell  or  Mr.  Wells  could  tell  you  about  it,  for 
we  had  both  there  many  times  to  speak.  Last  summer 
Elsing  spent  in  Sunday  school  work  through  the 
country  while  I  was  working  at  two  small  towns  out 
from  Lake  Forest.  I  spoke  twice  every  Sunday,  etc. 
Christ  was  there  too,  and  I  hope  some  souls  saw  His 
salvation.  The  work  is  going  on  here.  A  request 
came  from  Yale  College  for  our  prayers  and  also  ask- 
ing that  two  or  three  of  our  men  might  go  there. 


Early  Recollections  0}  Moody  147 

Three,  I  believe,  have  gone.    Write  to  us  when  you 
have  time.    We  are  praying  for  the  work. 
Yours  very  truly, 

ALEX.  J.  KERR. 

Mr.  Elsing  a  few  years  after  this,  was  put  in 
charge  of  a  mission  church  in  eastern  New  York 
by  Morris  K.  Jessup  and  has  been  there  ever  since 
a  burning  and  shining  light  as  one  of  Mr.  Moody's 
converts  and  protege's  from  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
prayer  meeting. 

February  gth,  1876. 
ALEX  J.  KERR,  ESQ., 

My  dear  Brother:  Your  and  Elsing's  letter  were 
duly  received,  and  heartily  remembered  in  the  noon 
meeting.  You  have  great  reason  to  rejoice  that  the 
Master  is  using  you  in  His  work.  I  think  it  is  one 
of  the  greatest  blessings  God  can  bestow  upon  any 
man,  to  use  him  in  the  conversion  of  others. 

I  believe  there  is  not  so  great  difference  in  the  soul's 
possessions  in  the  future  world,  as  that  which  exists 
between  the  self-sacrificing  labor  for  souls,  and  one  who 
does  nothing  actively  to  save  others,  except  that  which 
exists  between  Dives  and  Paul,  one  in  heaven  with 
redeemed  hosts  saved  by  the  " foolishness"  of  his 
preaching,  and  the  other  in  hell,  with  his  five  brethren, 
who  followed  his  example  and  found  his  place.  I 
wish  I  could  impress  the  truth  as  I  see  it  in  God's 
word,  that  every  one  shall  be  rewarded  according  as 
his  work  shall  be,  good  or  evil,  upon  every  student  in 
Princeton,  and  to  the  honest  Christian  student  paint 
two  pictures,  one  soul  getting  into  heaven  "so  as  by 


148  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

fire."  No  good  works  that  will  stand  the  test  of  His 
measuring  rod  of  fire,  who  gave  His  life  for  the  sheep 
and  spent  all  His  earthly  days  in  feeding  them,  only 
to  say  as  He  ascended  high,  and  gave  them  the  other 
comforter  "Follow  me,"  and  then  the  other  with  an 
abundant  entrance,  gold,  silver  and  precious  stones 
from  the  treasure  house  of  souls  made  alive  by  his 
influence,  which  cannot  be  burned  up.  If  such  a  con- 
trast would  not  put  new  zeal  into  cold  hearts,  then  I 
don't  know  what  would,  and  then  with  every  saved 
one  in  earnest  to  save  some  one  else,  it  would  not  be 
long  before  Princeton  would  celebrate  the  year  of 
Jubilee  in  the  conversion  of  all  her  pupils,  and  you 
could  send  us  our  new  minister  with  the  shout  of  a 
King  on  his  lips,  having  seen  the  salvation  of  the 
Lord. 

Work,  Work,  Work,  in  Christ's  Yoke  and  ye  shall 
find  rest,  blessed  paradox  of  divine  truth. 

Love  to  you  and  Elsing, 

Yours  very  truly, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 

February  8th,  1876. 

Dear  Moody:  I  see  by  the  papers  that  you  have 
commenced  in  New  York,  and  I  trust  that  the  meetings 
there  will  do  more  to  awaken  the  whole  country  than 
any  you  have  yet  held.  It  is  the  commercial  center 
of  the  country,  and  next  month  large  numbers  of  mer- 
chants and  business  men  from  all  over  the  country 
will  be  in  New  York.  I  would  like  to  have  you  write 
me  what  your  ideas  are  about  Chicago.  I  would  like 
to  do  anything  you  may  suggest  in  the  way  of  prepara- 
tion. If,  as  you  suggested  when  I  was  in  Philadelphia, 


Early  Recollections  oj  Moody  149 

you  think  best  to  go  on  to  the  west,  south  and  north 
sides,  alternately,  instead  of  going  into  the  exposition 
building,  then  the  rink  on  the  west  side  would  be  a 
good  place  and  yours  and  Bartlett's  churches  for  the 
north  and  south  sides.  What  do  you  think  of  renting 
the  Hall  Sunday  mornings  for  Professor  Swing's  serv- 
ices? He  is  talking  about  it  and  may  wish  to  get  it  if 
he  can. 

I  don't  like  his  course,  but  if  you  are  to  be  here  and 
have  no  morning  service  in  the  same  place,  I  would  say 
that  the  arrangement  might  help  your  meetings,  and 
you  could,  I  know,  help  Swing  very  much.  He 
wants  some  positive  man  to  anchor  to.  The  crowd  he 
trains  with  don't  know  what  they  believe,  and  he  must 
be  a  good  deal  like  them,  he  thinks,  to  keep  together. 
His  last  two  sermons  might  be  interpreted  thus — 
No.  i.  "An  honest  God  is  the  noblest  work  of  man." 
No.  2.  "Jesus  Christ  is  the  representative  man  in 
liberalism.  His  mighty  intellect  made  sermons  that 
live  forever."  He  received  Hereford,  the  English 
successor  of  Laird  Collier,  with  open  arms  in  the 
columns  of  his  papers,  as  a  man  likely  "by  his  purity 
and  learning  to  do  great  good."  Poor  Swing, he  has 
swung  out  into  too  large  a  circle  for  Christ  to  follow 
him  as  he  seems  to  call  on  Him  to  do. 

God  bless  you  a  thousand  times  more  than  ever 
before.  Yours  sincerely, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 

The  following  letters  to  Lay  Evangelists  who 
were  led  into  the  work  by  Mr.  Moody's  example, 
will  indicate  the  wisdom  of  Mr.  Moody  in  piloting 
or  advising  others  to  follow  his  example. 


150  Early  Recollections  0}  Moody 

Those  to  Mr.  Moody  and  others  in  re  his  coming 
to  Chicago,  will  indicate  the  Lord's  leadership  in 
opening  the  way  for  his  coming  to  Chicago. 

February  yth,  1876. 

Dear  Brother  Cole:  I  have  neglected  to  write  you 
since  you  declined  to  be  Bishop  of  Illinois,  and  not 
because  I  felt  slighted  (for  I  have  thought  a  hundred 
letters,  more  or  less,  since  then) ,  but  somehow  time 
does  beat  me  awfully  lately.  I  cannot  get  hours 
enough  into  a  day,  nor  half  use  what  I  do  get  from 
Him  who  has  made  the  clock  of  time  to  beat  so  fast. 
I  suppose  just  to  remind  us  of  our  very  little  impor- 
tance, except  as  we  are  able  through  his  grace  to  link 
it  to  the  great  future.  The  prairies  are  on  fire  in  a 
good  many  places,  and  I  have  been  called  on  to  stick 
my  little  torch  into  the  work  here  and  there,  much 
more  than  I  deserve,  but  not  half  so  much  as  I  would 
like  to.  I  have  sent  Brother  Dean  to  two  places  that 
I  could  not  go  to,  and  very  many  I  could  not  send  any 
one  nor  go  myself.  It  does  seem  as  though  the  mil- 
lennium was  coming,  so  much  inquiry  for  help  and  so 
many  places  where  the  work  is  going  on  without  any 
extra  help.  They  have  had  meetings  (union)  in 
Waukegan  for  a  long  time.  Weidensall  writes  from 
Iowa,  that  at  one  of  his  meetings  a  very  prominent 
couple,  for  whom  the  whole  community  had  been  very 
anxious,  were  labored  with  to  remain  to  the  inquiry 
meeting,  but  they  deliberately  refused.  The  young 
man  lost  his  reason  the  next  day,  and  died  soon  after. 
The  sad  event  was  having  the  effect  of  a  sermon  from 
the  pit  of  hell,  and  also  one  from  the  courts  of  the 
King  rejected,  to  precede  it.  Oh,  that  men  would  see 


Early  Recollections  oj  Moody  151 

that  our  Lord  will  one  day  proclaim  the  day  of  ven- 
geance upon  the  despisers  of  his  grace.  I  have  been 
two  Sabbaths  at  Moody's — souls  both  times  came 
into  the  Kingdom.  One  night  in  Racine  eight  ac- 
cepted Christ,  and  over  forty  remained  to  the  inquiry 
meeting.  Pray  for  us,  and  write  oftener.  -  I  often  get 
a  sermon  out  of  one  of  your  letters  and  I  want  to  know 
how  the  good  Lord  deals  with  you.  Love  to  the 
family.  Yours,  J.  V.  FARWELL. 

February  8th,  1876. 
J.  W.  DEAN,  ESQ., 

My  dear  Brother:  I  have  your  two  postals.  Farm- 
ington  and  Cambridge  unionized  (will  that  word 
do?)  for  the  Master,  and  signed,  sealed  and  acknowl- 
edged in  a  Y.  M.  C.  A. 

That  is  the  best  evidence  of  such  a  work,  from  the 
human  standpoint,  and  I  hope  that  the  Lord  will  so 
record  the  document  by  his  spiritual  evidences  that 
everywhere  there  may  be  added  to  the  church  daily, 
such  as  shall  be  sav§d,  in  the  line  of  your  march — a 
triumphal  march,  the  arch  of  which  is  being  erected 
in  the  land  where  the  last  enemy  is  conquered  and  the 
crowns  are  on  our  heads  decked  with  such  stars  as 
these,  and  where  we  can  shout  the  "Union  forever'* 
with  a  voice  and  an  echo  that  will  fill  all  heaven  and 
never  die  out,  with  no  one  to  secede,  or  break  ranks 
thus  joined.  You  are  a  highly  favored  man  to  be  per- 
mitted to  inaugurate  here  the  songs  of  redeemed  ones 
on  the  other  shore.  That  is  music  that  will  live  longer 
than  the  Star  Spangled  Banner,  the  emblem  of  political 
unity,  "Unto  him  that  hath  redeemed  us  and  washed 
us  in  his  own  blood,  and  made  us  kings  and  priests 


152  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

unto  him  forever,"  is  the  chorus  of  the  blood-stained 
banner  of  eternal  union.  The  music  is  set  by  grace 
between  music  bars,  and  if  the  Methodist  claims  the 
upper  bars  here  and  gets  in  his  hallelujahs  and  amens 
on  the  highest  keys,  it  will  all  be  mellowed  into  one 
harmony  when  the  Master  shall  hold  the  baton  and 
beat  time  for  us  all  in  the  chorus  of  the  skies.  You 
will  not  know  then  what  school  each  saint  took  his 
lessons  in.  It  is,  therefore,  a  blessed  thing  to  begin 
to  be  ignorant  on  that  point  even  here.  That  is  the 
key  note  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  work  and  I  am  glad  you 
have  set  it  so  well  in  these  two  places.  You  are  re- 
membered daily  at  the  Union  Prayer  meeting.  May 
you  see  a  shower  before  you  come  back. 

Yours  very  truly, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

February  zoth,  1876. 

Dear  Brother  Morton:  I  have  yours  of  the  8th  and 
in  reply  would  say  that  I  should  be  glad  to  be  with  you 
in  Louisville  and  may  be  able  to  do  so.  I  am  to  be  in 
Washington  on  the  gth  of  March  and  if  Mrs.  Farwell 
does  not  go  with  me,  I  can  go  via  Louisville.  Are  you 
thinking  of  going  into  the  work  for  the  New  York 
Committee?  You  are  right  in  giving  your  whole 
strength  to  the  very  best  thing  on  earth,  "preaching 
the  gospel."  A  mixed  subject  of  personal  popularity 
and  Christianity  to  say  nothing  about  crime,  etc.,  as 
connected  with  any  one  man  or  church,  is  not  large 
enough  to  balance  the  loss  of  an  hour's  time  in  the 
work  of  saving  men,  with  one  of  the  Lord's  anointed, 
whose  work  is  no  masquerade  party,  but  real  earnest 
blows  for  the  truth. 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  153 

Nothing  else  will  stand  the  fire  of  the  final  judgment 
upon  men's  work  on  earth.  And  as  "every  man"  is  to 
be  rewarded  "according  as  his  work  shall  be,"  etc.,  it 
stands  in  one's  hand  to  measure  carefully  the  length 
and  breadth  of  his  efforts  as  a  prof essed  follower  of 
Christ,  who  is  to  be  the  judge.  I  am  sorry  for  the 
man  who  is  first  looking  for  the  patronage  and  ap- 
plause of  men  as  preachers  of  Christ's  righteousness. 
What  a  sorry  heap  of  rubbish  they  will  have  to  see 
burned  up  in  the  great  day  that  is  to  try  our  work,  of 
what  sort  it  is.  Souls  coming  up  to  testify  that  your 
faithful  message  from  the  Son  of  God,  with  naught 
added  or  subtracted,  was  the  sword  that  broke  their 
stubborn  wills  and  made  them  Christians,  will  be 
worth  a  carload  of  eloquent  manuscripts,  whose  only 
office  was  to  put  the  conscience  to  sleep,  and  let  the 
juggernaut  of  intellectual  pride  crush  out  every 
thought  of  repentance  toward  God,  and  faith  for 
salvation  in  the  Crucified  One  alone.  Swing,  Murray, 
Beecher  &  Co.,  and  Moody,  Whittle,  Cole  &  Co.  will 
have  quite  a  different  introduction  to  the  Court  of 
final  jurisdiction,  I  think. 

Yours  very  truly, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

February  i5th,  1876. 

J.  W.  DEAN,  ESQ., 

My  dear  Brother:  I  have  yours  of  the  i4th.  I 
am  glad  you  have  been  set  to  the  music  of  union  in 
your  work,  and  that  there  were  no  discords  as  yet, 
except  the  invitation  to  restrict  your  work  to  so  little 
a  locality,  which  comes  from  Chicago.  Spafford  said 
to-day  at  lunch  that  it  seemed  as  though  there  was  no 


154  Early  Recollections  0}  Moody 

restraint  outside  of  the  city  limits,  but  here  there  was 
evidently  some  reason  for  the  meager  results  from 
Christian  efforts,  and  I  can  find  it  nowhere,  except 
in  the  exclusiveness  of  the  churches.  Some  have  the 
union  spirit  and  are  blessed,  but  not  as  fully  (I  be- 
lieve) as  they  would  be  if  they  could  have  some  real 
union  meetings  continued  daily  in  each  section  of  the 
city.  If  you  come  here  and  settle  down  you  will  do 
good,  but  if  you  take  the  state  for  your  field,  and 
Chicago  only  one  corner  of  it,  I  think  you  will  do 
goodest,  and  more  of  it  too.  You  know  there  is  a 
charm  in  a  new  voice  and  a  new  way  of  putting  the 
truth,  which  often  attracts  and  captures  men  who 
for  years  have  sat  under  good  preaching  without  being 
taken  in  the  gospel  net,  and  you  are  a  new  man  in 
every  place  you  go,  and  the  old,  old  story  in  your  mouth 
becomes  new  to  hundreds  who  otherwise  might 
"Sleep  on  now"  till  Gabriel's  trumpet  alone  awakens 
them  to  judgment,  though  the  best  men  in  the  state 
may  have  sounded  in  their  ears  the  news  of  a  risen 
Lord,  able  to  save.  But,  as  you  say,  "The  Lord  will 
lead,"  and  so  I  will  stop  my  pen  on  that  head  at  once, 
knowing  that  my  advice  is  good  for  nothing  to  one  who 
looks  in  that  direction  for  guidance.  I  am  going  to 
Racine  on  Friday  night  where  they  have  had  revival 
services  for  two  months.  Many  other  places  are  call- 
ing for  help.  We  could  use  several  good  men  in  the 
work.  Yours  in  the  love  of  the  work, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 

March  3rd,  1876. 

My  dear  Brother  Cole:    I  found  your  friend  in,  and 
very  ready  to  talk.    I  found  him  one  of  those  men 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  155 

who  try  to  live  religion  at  home  and  under  the  vest, 
but  very  careful  to  conceal  the  fact  from  every  one, 
lest  they  should  fail  to  live  as  they  should.  He  ad- 
mitted his  error  in  every  particular,  and  promised  to 
confer  with  his  wife  and  think  seriously  of  making  a 
full  surrender  and  an  open  confession  of  his  secret 
faith.  He  seems  like  the  young  man  with  Jesus, 
lacking  only  one  thing,  and  if  he  does  as  he  promised 
and  reads  the  Scriptures  given  him  to  that  end,  I  trust 
he  may  soon  write  you  that  your  kind  thoughts  of 
him  in  a  far  off  land  were  rewarded  by  his  full  con- 
secration to,  and  trust  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I 
don't  hear  from  you  half  as  often  as  I  would  like  to, 
but  suppose  that  you  have  no  time  to  write  one-half 
the  letters  you  would  like  to,  but  when  you  can  squeeze 
out  a  letter  sheet  of  your  orders  and  facts  for  my  en- 
couragement, I  shall  be  greatly  delighted.  I  am  out 
somewhere  most  every  week,  and  have  many  invita- 
tions that  I  cannot  meet.  There  is  a  blessed  revival 
all  over  the  northwest,  and  in  fact  all  over  the  north, 
and  from  the  recent  developments  in  political  circles, 
it  seems  as  though  nothing  was  more  needed  to  save 
the  country  from  a  curse,  apparently  worse  than 
slavery  itself.  Perhaps  that  is  what  is  wanted  to 
clean  the  atmosphere  of  moral  pestilence,  which  seems 
to  pervade  the  very  highest  ranks  of  society.  It  re- 
minds me  of  the  fervent  prayers  for  America  before 
leaving  England,  which  went  up  from  every  meeting 
I  attended  in  connection  with  Mr.  Moody's  return. 

With  kind  regards  for  you  and  yours,  and  fervent 
prayers  for  your  success  in  your  work,  I  am  sincerely, 
Yours  in  Christ, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 


156  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

March  6th,  1876. 
W.  E.  DODGE,  JR.,  ESQ., 

My  dear  Brother:  I  have  yours  in  regard  to  Mr. 
Moody 's  church,  etc.  I  have  no  information  as  to 
what  was  done  in  Philadelphia  or  Brooklyn.  Mr. 
Stuart  intimated  to  me  that  some  of  the  wealthy  men 
in  Philadelphia  had  proposed  to  do  something  in  a 
quiet  way. 

He  seems  to  be  a  little  unfortunate  in  such  enter- 
prises, but  I  hope  the  Lord  will  prevent  any  mistake 
in  this  matter  especially.  I  should  not  advise  you  to 
have  an  auction  of  chairs  and  towels  in  New  York 
when  you  close  your  meetings. 

The  fewer  the  persons  who  know  of  any  freewill 
offerings  made  to  Moody's  private  means,  the  better. 
Each  individual  being  his  own  secretary  and  treasurer 
in  such  matters,  seems  to  me  the  most  satisfactory  for 
all  interests.  As  to  his  church,  I  had  hoped  to  raise 
the  money  here  to  meet  the  balance  of  construction 
account,  but  our  churches  are  all  so  heavily  mort- 
gaged that  it  seems  useless  to  make  the  attempt, 
having  failed  with  those  most  able  and  willing  in  such 
gifts.  There  could  be  no  more  appropriate  object  to 
which  the  hymn  book  money  could  be  given.  I  think 
Moody  though,  would  rather  see  it  used  to  get  the 
Association  building  out  of  debt.  He  seems  to  have 
set  his  affections  on  that  first,  as  they  were  when  his 
wonderful  energy  and  good  common  sense  served 
to  concentrate  his  powers  for  preaching  the  word  in 
union  work,  which  has  been  his  peculiar  aim,  from 
the  beginning. 

His  own  church  has  been  second,  only,  to  the  all 
absorbing  idea  of  making  the  world  feel  the  power 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  157 

of  Christian  union  in  active  work  for  the  masses,  who 
in  regular  church  work  are  so  sadly  neglected.  The 
good  Lord  will  guide  him  and  us  in  the  matter  when 
the  proper  time  comes.  We  are  having  blessed  times 
in  the  little  towns  outside  of  Chicago. 

Yours  very  truly,  J.  V.  FARWELL. 

April  24th,  1876. 

My  dear  Cole:  I  have  yours  from  Glasgow  and 
am  sorry  to  hear  that  none  of  you  are  sound  physically, 
though  strong  in  the  Lord. 

I  see  also  your  note  to  Spafford  on  the  returning  of 
Satan  to  spoil  the  work  of  the  Lord  under  Moody  via 
ecclesiastical  doors.  Poor  human  nature,  how  frail! 
While  Moody  was  there  and  crowds  came  to  hear  him, 
the  ministers  dare  not  oppose,  but  now  that  he  has 
gone,  and  perhaps  they  have  not  tried  to  gather  up  the 
fruits  in  their  own  neighborhoods,  they  see  that  no 
good  was  done.  I  think  the  days  that  Paul  spoke  of 
must  be  close  upon  us  when  the  form  of  godliness  is 
received,  but  the  power  thereof  denied.  Well  if  there 
is  any  great  spreading  of  this  spiritual  disease,  you 
will  not  be  as  welcome  there  as  you  have  been,  but 
there  is  a  work  for  you  somewhere,  that  is  certain,  and 
the  Lord  will  lead  you  into  it  in  His  own  way.  You 
must  take  better  care  of  your  poor  body.  You  know 
it  is  the  Temple  of  God,  and  you  must  study  to  keep 
its  pillars  and  posts  strong  and  vigorous  by  careful 
usage  and  by  proper  diet.  I  thought  you  were  not 
careful  enough  about  the  last  point  when  I  was  with 
you.  Our  anniversary  was  a  success,  and  the  work 
done  the  past  year  indicates  that  the  Lord  has  led  our 
leaders. 


158  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

Dear  Spafford  grows  all  the  time.  He  has  arrived 
at  the  mile  post  which  says,  "In  like  manner  shall  he 
come  again."  He  reads  it  as  Moody  does,  "Behold 
I  come  quickly,"  and  it  cannot  be  too  often  pressed 
upon  our  ears,  as  a  motive  to  earnest  work  for  Him 
who  has  left  his  work  in  our  hands. 

I  hope  to  hear  from  you  often,  until  I  see  you  face 
to  face,  and  may  He  who  sustained  Paul,  lay  under- 
neath you  His  almighty  arm,  and  tell  you  to  be  of  good 
courage  in  the  midst  of  your  bodily  ailments. 

Love  to  yours — God  bless  and  keep  you  all, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

April  24th,  1876. 

Dear  Moody:  I  have  yours  in  regard  to  the  Taber- 
nacle, and  learn  that  Hammond  and  one  or  two  others 
opposed  the  transfer  of  the  property  to  you  on  the 
ground  that  you  had  no  creed,  etc.,  of  a  like  frivolous 
character,  but  they  wanted  to  make  it  free.  Patton 
called  to  see  me  to  have  a  conference  about  the  matter 
with  some  others,  and  I  referred  him  to  Rockwell,  as 
knowing  all  about  it,  fearing  that  I  might  say  some- 
thing that  would  hinder  rather  than  help  in  such  a 
discussion. 

I  see  that  the  World  has  published  that  I  and  some 
other  friends  are  paying  all  your  bills,  etc.  Now 
there  is  nothing  that  hurts  me  more  than  to  be  so  mis- 
represented. The  Lord  knows  that  I  have  not  done 
near  as  much  to  aid  you  in  your  work  as  I  ought  to 
have  done,  when  you  were  here,  and  unless  you  ob- 
ject to  it  I  may  correct  these  false  impressions  which 
have  crept  into  the  prints  without  any  agency  of  mine, 
for  I  have  never  told  any  one  but  Ensign  that  I  gave 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  159 

you  anything,  since  you  lived  in  my  house  before  the 
fire.  These  things  must  be  very  annoying  to  you,  and 
if  you  will  suggest  any  way  for  me  to  correct  them  I 
shall  esteem  it  a  favor,  as  I  would  not  like  to  add  to 
your  discomfort  in  attempting  to  do  it  in  a  way  you 
would  not  approve.  I  wish  to  comfort  you  a  little  on 
account  of  that  Book  of  Daniels  that  has  troubled  you 
so  much,  by  saying  that  several  ministers  have  said  to 
me  that  the  reading  of  that  book  has  been  a  great 
blessing  to  them,  by  helping  to  a  new  consecration, 
etc.  The  Tribune  published  an  editorial,  "Moody 's 
Methods,"  which  was  capital  and  I  took  occasion  to 
write  Medill  a  personal  note  with  one  criticism  only, 
which  he  afterwards  asked  the  privilege  of  using  in  his 
Sunday  issue.  I  did  not  see  the  paper,  but  I  was  told 
that  he  also  published  my  letter  in  the  Independent, 
on  the  question  opened  by  Wanamaker.  The  press 
of  this  city  is  converted  in  one  sense  at  least. 

Can  you  not  be  there  the  last  of  May  for  our  con- 
ference of  National  Ex.  Committee,  etc.  I  wish  you 
could. 

I  told  Rockwell  to-day  to  take  the  front  room  for 
our  reading  room,  and  put  a  door  through  into  the 
prayer  room. 

Love  to  Mrs.  Moody  and  the  children. 
Yours  very  truly, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 


July  25th,  1876. 

Dear  Moody:  Enclosed  I  hand  you  a  letter  for 
Sankey,  as  I  do  not  know  where  he  may  be  at  this 
time.  Please  forward.  The  noon  prayer-meeting 


160  Early  Recollections  0}  Moody 

and  the  Gospel  meetings  in  the  evening  are  growing 
in  interest.  To-day  there  were  five  rose  for  prayers 
and  Rockwell  says  there  has  not  been  a  meeting  since 
you  left  that  has  not  resulted  in  fruit.  I  hope  it  is  but 
the  drops  before  the  shower.  Lake  Bluff  camp  meet- 
ing was  not  a  great  success.  Sunday  School  As- 
sembly ditto,  but  there  were  some  conversions  and  a 
good  deal  of  good  work  done. 

I  am  getting  a  little  nervous  over  the  action  of  our 
Committee  on  your  meetings.  They  voted  not  to 
spend  a  dollar  until  all  the  money  was  raised,  and  it 
requires  $27,000  for  the  building  and  chairs.  I 
offered  to  allow  the  Committee  to  build  on  our  lot  two 
stories  of  an  outside  wall  for  a  permanent  building, 
and  pay  them  at  the  end  of  the  year  the  cost  of  the 
building,  except  the  expense  of  changing  the  galleries 
to  floors,  if  they  would  put  all  the  money  donated  for 
a  building  into  the  hands  of  the  Association  to  help  pay 
its  debts.  In  this  way,  $4,000  and  interest  on  money 
borrowed  to  build  such  walls  would  cover  all  the 
building  expenses  and  leave  the  balance  for  the  As- 
sociation. The  committee  voted  not  to  do  it  on  ac- 
count of  having  to  borrow  money.  Now,  when  they 
get  their  money  raised,  I  will  propose  to  build  a  build- 
ing if  they  will  put  their  money  into  it,  I  to  pay  it  to 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  as  soon  as  the  Building  is  put  into 
stores.  This  will  give  $20,000  to  $23,000  to  the  As- 
sociation, which  otherwise  would  have  to  be  thrown 
away,  as  the  tearing  down  would  leave  only  about 
$5,000  from  old  materials.  What  do  you  think  of 
this?  Write  Blatchford  or  me  if  you  approve. 
Yours, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  161 

July  26th,  1876. 
D.  L.  MOODY,  ESQ., 

My  dear  Brother:  I  wrote  you  hastily  yesterday 
about  the  building,  etc.  I  don't  think  you  fully 
comprehend  the  difficulty  in  raising  money  here  to 
build  a  building  to  be  torn  down.  London  is  the 
only  place  which  has  done  this,  and  they  only  when 
they  could  not  get  a  suitable  place.  We  have  very 
few  men  who  can  give,  who  are  not  now  pulled  and 
hauled  to  pay  church  debts,  and  hence  the  necessity 
of  saving  every  dollar  we  can  for  our  Associ- 
ation. 

You  haven't  the  same  material  to  work  on  when 
you  get  through — for  money,  as  in  New  York  and 
Philadelphia.  So  I  hope  that  we  shall  all  see  alike 
before  we  get  through  with  the  preliminaries,  and  all 
be  commended  for  the  part  taken,  as  should  be  the 
case.  Very  many  have  made  the  objection  that  the 
money  is  all  to  be  thrown  away,  and  they  are  too 
poor,  etc. 

I  do  hope  that  we  shall  see  the  morning  star  when 
you  come.  It  has  been  dark  a  long  time  now.  I 
wish  my  name  had  never  been  connected  with  the 
Hall.  We  could  then  change  it  without  seeming  to 
condemn  any  one,  and  if  necessary  for  the  highest 
success  I  am  ready  to  be  crucified  in  that  way  or  any 
other. 

With  love  to  you  and  yours, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 

July  27th,  1876. 

Dear  Cole:  I  have  neglected  writing  to  you,  but 
not  praying  or  thinking.  I  trust  that  the  good  Lord 


1 62  Early  Recollections  o]  Moody 

has  manifested  his  faithfulness  in  such  a  way  as  to 
give  you  more  and  more  confidence  in  Him,  whatever 
you  may  think  of  me.  I  have  not  seen  Henry  Greene- 
baum  yet,  but  I  intend  to.  I  read  your  letter  to 
Whittle  about  their  coming  to  England.  If  he  is 
wanted  there,  I  hope  the  Lord  will  lead  them 
to  go. 

Morgan  telegraphs  me  that  the  papers  are  repub- 
lishing  libels  against  Moody  and  Sankey.  What  is  the 
devil  doing?  Is  he  very  angry  because  his  time  is 
short?  It  looks  as  though  he  were  trying  to  fill  the 
world  with  his  lies  in  more  shapes  than  ever  before, 
which  looks  very  much  as  though  the  Lord  was  get- 
ting his  great  chain  ready  for  him.  The  preparations 
for  Moody  are  going  forward,  but  the  money  comes 
very  hard.  He  will  come  October  ist.  The  meet- 
ings in  lower  Hall  since  Moody  left,  have  had  fruit 
every  night,  which  means  that  the  Lord  wants  them 
to  come,  if  the  money  men  don't,  and  so  I  think  He 
will  come,  and  then  the  money  will  come  too,  after 
the  Lord  shows  the  people  how  easy  it  is  when  you 
feel  like  it.  The  noon  meetings  are  full,  and  cases 
nearly  every  day  of  new  creatures  in  Christ  Jesus, 
the  only  way  to  make  a  new  man.  Moody 's  church 
is  paid  for  and  dedicated,  and  is  the  best  church  audi- 
ence room  I  ever  saw — a  real  demonstration  of 
Moody's  practicalness  in  everything, — lots  of  seats 
for  a  little  money,  and  every  appliance  for  work  every 
day  in  the  week.  Pray  for  a  poor  sinner  who  wants  to 
do  what  he  can  and  has  many  hindrances  in  the  way. 

Love  to  you  and  yours  and  all  friends,  that  truly 
love  the  Lord, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  163 

September  6th,  1876. 
E.  W.  BLATCHFORD,  ESQ., 

Dear  Brother:  I  find  that  there  has  nothing  been 
done  by  the  Building  Committee,  except  Harvey,  since 
I  took  hold  of  the  building  and  it  became  known 
publicly.  Of  course  I  do  not  accept  this  as  the  in- 
tentional result  of  my  course  on  the  part  of  the  com- 
mittee, but  only  a  letting  up  for  the  time  being,  for 
a  better  grip  on  the  final  effort.  I  cannot  too  forcibly 
impress  upon  the  committee,  the  idea  that  the  raising 
of  the  money  necessary  to  secure  an  appropriate 
building,  was  the  only  condition  upon  which  Mr. 
Moody  would  consent  to  come,  on  the  ground  that 
this  would  indicate  more  than  anything  else  the 
earnestness  of  the  invitation,  and  the  readiness  of  all 
parties  to  co-operate  when  he  did  come.  Now  my 
dear  brother,  I  hope  that  your  characteristic  energy 
will  be  felt  at  every  necessary  point  to  relieve  me 
(in  Mr.  Moody's  mind)  from  having  done  just  what 
he  refused  to  have  me  do  (viz. :  provide  a  building 
mainly  at  my  own  expense,  rather  than  not  have  him 
come).  Moody  knows  full  well  that  you  and  I  en- 
dorse him,  and  will  spend  money  to  aid  in  a  popular 
union  work,  but  he  ought  now  to  be  met  with  such 
a  practical  endorsement  here  in  his  own  home,  as 
will  encourage  him  to  pray  and  work  for  such  a  result 
as  had  not  been  obtained  in  any  other  place,  consider- 
ing the  size  of  our  city,  when  the  records  of  the  meet- 
ings are  written  up. 

There  should  be  very  frequent  meetings  of  the 
committee  (with  such  ministers  called  in  as  you  wish 
to  help  you)  until  all  the  money  is  obtained  for  the 
building,  and  prayers  with  faith  to  keep  us  all  where 


164  Early  Recollections  o)  Moody 

there  shall  be  no  discord  in  the  harmony  of  heads 
and  hearts  in  this  work. 

Yours, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 

October  9th,  1876. 

Dear  Moody:  To-day  is  the  anniversary  of  the 
event  which  under  God  sent  you  to  England,  and  to 
the  world  almost,  with  the  message  of  salvation  which 
has  been  received  so  gladly  by  listening  thousands. 
It  would  have  done  your  heart  good  to  have  been  be- 
hind the  scenes  and  listened  to  the  exercises  in  the 
morning  meeting,  and  at  the  Tabernacle  in  the  after- 
noon. Truly  God  is  in  this  place  and  many  know 
it  not.  Involuntary  prayer  meetings  followed  both 
meetings  in  which  the  tongue  of  fire  was  heard. 
There  were  no  vacant  seats  in  the  tabernacle.  In 
the  evening  the  Hall  was  crowded,  and  the  wall  aisles 
full  of  standing  people,  and  I  tried  to  speak  to  them 
from  Matt,  i :  23.  Never  before  did  I  feel  so  much  the 
need  of  the  baptism  of  power.  I  cannot  speak  again 
for  the  King  unless  I  have  it.  It  seems  solemn 
mockery.  Oh,  pray  for  me,  if  God  wants  me  to  work 
in  this  way  to  show  me,  by  that  special  token,  so 
necessary  to  success.  I  am  invited  to  several  places, 
but  I  cannot  accept  as  I  now  feel.  I  now  see  how 
God  was  preparing  you  for  your  trial  of  which  you 
spoke  at  lunch.  You  could  not  go  to  the  fair  "be- 
cause God  was  coming  so  very  near."  Ah,  how  you 
need  that  near  communion  now,  to  leave  this  work 
and  to  stand  in  the  old  homestead  by  the  widow  and 
the  mother  and  carry  the  dead  boy  to  his  last  resting 
place !  You  were  very  tenderly  remembered  in  every 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  165 

prayer,  and  the  meetings  for  this  week  were  also 
borne  on  the  same  petitions. 

The  purposes  of  God  are  unfolding  more  rapidly 
than  the  faith  of  his  people  have  grasped.  It  be- 
hooves us  all  to  walk  very  carefully.  I  think  your 
calling  from  us  at  this  time,  was  one  of  His  calls  that 
has  made  a  deep  impression  here,  so  that  when  you 
come  back  to  us  you  may  find  a  well- watered  field  to 
work  in.  Grace  does  not  always  reach  us  in  the 
gentle  dew.  It  often  comes  through  the  thunder  and 
the  lightning  and  the  black  storm  cloud,  but  it  is  the 
same  essential  love  of  the  kind  Father  over  and  above 
all,  sent  for  our  good. 

There  are  moist  eyes  all  around  us  now,  while  a  few 
weeks  ago  the  heavens  were  brass.  The  fire  has 
melted  the  ice  and  now  it  behooves  us  to  use  the  waters 
for  His  glory.  May  the  dear  Lord  help  you  to  lead 
his  people  here  to  a  great  victory. 

Your  loving  brother  in  Christ, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

P.  S.  I  cannot  close  without  sending  the  sym- 
pathy of  a  stranger  to  your  dear  mother  in  this  af- 
fliction. 

March  2nd,  1877. 

Dear  Moody:  You  wish  me  to  keep  you  posted  in 
regard  to  meetings.  I  can  say  in  regard  to  the 
country,  that  prayer  has  been  answered  wonderfully. 
In  every  direction  the  cry  comes  up  "Come  over  and 
help  us."  Spafford  and  I  have  just  returned  from  a 
two  days'  meeting  at  Paw  Paw,  Michigan,  where 
the  largest  church  was  filled  at  10  a.  m.  and  two 
churches  at  2  and  6  p.  m.  There  have  been  nearly 


1 66  Early  Recollections  o]  Moody 

three  hundred  conversions  in  a  town  of  2,500.  We 
took  the  night  train  home  from  Lawton,  4  miles  from 
Paw  Paw,  and  they  had  their  largest  church  crowded 
waiting  for  us  to  have  a  meeting  from  10  to  i,  when 
we  took  the  train.  I  have  about  four  invitations  daily, 
to  some  town  in  the  country  to  speak  especially  to 
business  men.  Mrs.  Farwell  has  taken  the  "spoiling" 
of  her  home  "joyfully"  until  the  invitations  multiplied. 
If  you  had  time  to  just  write  her  a  word  of  encourage- 
ment I  would  like  it.  I  think  the  next  two  months 
will  be  a  grand  harvest  time,  and  having  had  the  Lord's 
sickle  in  a  few  fields,  I  am  longing  to  do  what  I  can 
while  this  blessed  day  of  visitation  lasts.  I  find  that 
the  spirit  helps  my  infirmities,  making  it  an  easy  and 
joyful  service.  "My  yoke  is  easy,  and  my  burden 
is  light."  Whittle  is  back  this  morning.  He  has 
had  a  grand  time  in  Dubuque,  and  could  have 
stayed  two  weeks  longer.  Murphy  with  four  or  five 
of  his  Pittsburg  converts  had  the  meeting  to-day,  with 
Morton  to  lead. 

Their  testimony  was  thin  Gospel  soup,  but  he  spoke 
very  well,  except  too  much  in  it.  I  cannot  particu- 
larize, but  Mrs.  Dryer's  prayers  (before  you  came) 
for  the  whole  harvest  field  from  this  center,  seem  to 
have  reached  the  throne.  Continue  to  plead  for  this 
great  city  and  this  great  country  that  centers  here. 
Whittle  says  McGranahan  is  doing  well,  very  well. 

My  best  love  to  the  better  half  and  the  little  ones, 
Faithfully,  JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 

March  5th,  1877. 

Dear  Major  Cole:  I  saw  Hamlin  at  lunch,  and 
learned  how  the  dear  Lord  has  yoked  himself  up  with 


Early  Recollections  oj  Moody  167 

you,  for  His  own  work  in  Adrian  and  Hillsdale.  He 
is  always  better  than  our  faith.  Burlington  has 
written  me  twice  to  come  over  and  speak  to  their 
business  men,  and  have  been  working  to  get  Whittle, 
but  he  is  here  again  and  they  are  in  despair.  I  wrote 
them  to  send  for  you.  I  think  it  is  the  leading  of  the 
great  Leader  of  Israel,  and  if  all  the  pastors  unite  in  a 
call,  shall  be  quite  sure  that  it  is.  Burlington  is  an 
important  town,  and  needs  to  be  moved.  I  was  home 
yesterday  for  the  first  time  in  a  long  while — to-morrow 
I  go  to  Pontiac  and  have  three  or  four  places  where 
they  want  me  to  come.  We  had  a  good  time  in  Paw 
Paw  where  they  intended  to  stop  the  meetings  with 
our  leaving,  but  they  have  broken  out  in  a  new  place 
and  are  going  ahead  this  week.  I  am  amazed  that 
God  can  use  such  timber  as  I  am  in  His  temple. 
Love  to  you  and  yours,  from  a  poor  sinner, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

March  5th,  1877. 

Dear  Moody:  I  have  been  asked  so  many  times 
to  write  you  to  come  here  in  May  when  the  General 
Assembly  meets  here,  that  with  my  own  impressions 
in  regard  to  another  short  campaign  in  the  Taber- 
nacle under  your  leadership  before  we  give  it  up  to 
other  uses,  I  have  consented  to  write  and  urge  it. 
Whittle  has  come  back  and  had  a  good  meeting  yester- 
day, and  the  Tribune  and  Inter  Ocean  gave  full  re- 
ports of  the  sermons. 

Harvey  and  myself  went  to  see  the  editors,  and 
they  have  agreed  to  keep  it  up  for  a  month,  which 
will  be  a  great  send  off  for  Whittle  for  work  elsewhere, 
as  well  as  keep  up  the  interest  in  country  towns,  where 


1  68  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

there  is  no  diminution  of  interest  apparent  as  yet. 
Sharp  has  been  to  Geneseo  for  ten  days  and  65  were 
converted  —  a  hard  infidel  town  —  with  unabated  ef- 
forts still  going  forward. 

The  reports  to-day  were  good  in  the  noon  meeting. 
Thompson  took  in  58  yesterday.  Keep  up  a  quiet 
thinking  in  the  line  of  30  days'  more  work  for  your 
old  home  in  May  and  June,  and  if  the  Lord  leads  that 
way  I  shall  say  Glory  Hallelujah. 

Love  to  wife  and  children. 

Sincerely, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 


March  lyth,  1877. 
CHAS.  M.  MORTON,  ESQ., 

My  dear  Brother:  I  am  rejoiced  to  hear  of  your 
success  in  the  Lord  at  Paxton  and  hope  Carbondale 
will  prove  a  mine  of  spiritual  carbon,  only  waiting 
the  fire  from  above  to  set  it  on  fire  for  God.  I  had 
written  Blackstone  before  yours  came,  but  it  will  not 
hurt  him.  I  wrote  to  Day  of  Peoria,  and  hope  he  will 
move  in  the  matter,  but  I  am  afraid  he  is  not  charged 
with  enough  heavenly  electricity  to  galvanize  Peoria 
into  life  enough  for  a  general  work. 

They  are  working  hard  to  build  churches,  as  in 
other  places,  each  one  having  their  own  heavy  load, 
etc.,  and  so  afraid  the  Lord's  car  (which  moves  on 
the  masses)  will  divert  funds  from  sectarian  uses. 

The  more  I  see  of  this  spirit,  the  more  I  am  con- 
vinced that  the  devil  is  the  busiest  member  of  the 
churches,  putting  up  all  sorts  of  jobs  to  occupy  the 
mind  aside  from  the  real  work.  A  church  is  or- 
ganized for  saving  souls.  But  this  is  poor  Jacob 


Early  Recollections  oj  Moody  169 

trading  with  Esau,  instead  of  Israel  prevailing  with 
God.  It  does  seem  as  though  there  ought  in  these 
days  of  light,  to  be  a  nearer  way  through  the  wilder- 
ness to  the  grapes  and  milk  and  honey  of  God's 
promises,  than  the  way  the  churches  are  traveling. 
Yet  when  I  see  how  long  it  took  me  to  get  away  from 
Sinai,  I  am  disposed  not  to  find  fault,  but  to  pity  and 
pray,  and  put  in  a  little  work  wherever  I  can  under 
the  Master's  command. 

God  bless  you  in  your  sweet  service  and  glorious 
conquests  for  Christ. 

Yours  very  truly, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 

April  6th,  1877. 

Dear  Brother  Dean:  I  have  yours  of  the  2ist  ult., 
from  Cherokee  and  was  delighted  to  hear  that  you 
are  enjoying  your  new  field  of  work  so  richly. 

You  are  really  out  of  the  wilderness,  and  plucking 
the  grapes  of  Eschol  in  the  land  of  milk  and  honey 
promises.  Such  is  the  privilege  of  faith.  "Go  for- 
ward" was  never  intended  to  land  any  one  in  the  Red 
Sea,  but  just  where  you  are,  eating  and  drinking, 
fighting  and  rejoicing  in  victory  over  old  Adam,  who 
always  did  and  always  will  keep  a  poor  sinner  in  the 
wilderness  of  sin,  just  as  long  as  he  can.  There  are 
many  of  God's  people  that  are  only  fit  to  grub  the 
field,  many  that  can  plow,  many  that  can  sow  the 
good  seed  of  the  Kingdom,  but  few  who  can  reap  well. 
Many  who  can  wash  and  mend  nets  and  row  a  boat, 
but  few  who  hear  the  words  of  the  Master,  "Cast  the 
net  on  the  right  side  and  ye  shall  find."  One  whole 
generation  of  grubbers  in  the  field  of  faith,  died  in 


1 70  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

the  wilderness,  and  only  their  children  and  Caleb 
and  Joshua  to  lead  them  partook  of  the  milk  and 
honey  and  grapes  of  God's  promises. 

How  many  generations  of  sectarianism  have  been 
grubbing  in  the  wilderness  of  selfishness  and  have 
died,  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  Flag  of  Union  in  get- 
ting the  devil  and  his  wife  out  of  the  heavenly  places 
where  God's  promises  are  realized.  That  you  are 
called  to  be  one  of  the  Master's  armor  bearers  in  this 
grand  crusade  into  the  Holy  Land,  is  the  highest 
honor  that  you  can  ever  attain  to.  As  Caleb  and 
Joshua  could  pity  those  whose  bones  lay  in  the  road 
to  Canaan,  because  of  unbelief,  even  before  entering 
the  land  of  Promises,  how  much  more  can  you  pity 
that  corps  of  sin  dried  pilgrims  who  prefer  wandering 
in  the  desert,  thirsty  and  starving  upon  empty  doc- 
trines, rather  than  join  the  army  of  faith  and  take  all 
that  God  has  promised  and  provided  for  those  who 
obey  the  voice  of  his  word,  and  his  providence,  and 
move  along  with  them  obediently,  lovingly  and 
joyously.  God  bless  you  and  make  you  still  more 
a  blessing. 

Yours,  J.  V.  FARWELL. 

April  loth,  1877. 
W.  E.  DODGE,  JR.,  ESQ., 

My  dear  Sir:  I  have  yours  of  the  7th.  I  am  sure 
nothing  would  please  me  better  than  to  have  Mr. 
Moody  entirely  relieved  from  any  financial  burden  in 
connection  with  our  Association,  but  unfortunately 
our  city  is  not  in  condition  to  liquidate  all  fire  debts 
yet,  and  you  know  our  Association  has  had  two  fires, 
in  view  of  which  I  am  surprised  that  Chicago  has  done 


Early  Recollections  0}  Moody  171 

what  she  has  in  the  building  of  the  Tabernacle  and 
paying  off  the  Association  debt.  And  I  am  sure  that 
this  country  can  well  afford  to  let  Mr.  Moody  relieve 
the  institution  that  has  done  so  much  to  give  him  to 
the  country,  under  God,  as  the  World's  evangelist. 

Yours  very  truly, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

April  1 4th,  1877. 

Dear  Cole:  I  have  heard  from  you  occasionally 
by  the  papers  and  through  Spafford  and  once  from 
Hinsdale,  and  always  with  good  news.  I  suppose  that 
you  are  so  busy  that  you  have  no  time  to  write  a  pil- 
grim, as  a  matter  of  news  only.  You  must  have  had 
a  great  victory  at  Hudson  for  the  Lord.  That's  just 
his  way,  to  give  us  a  thousand  fold  more  than  we 
deserve  in  His  service.  I  had  a  letter  from  Brother 
Dean  a  few  days  since.  He  is  having  great  success 
in  Iowa.  I  went  with  him  to  their  State  Convention 
and  pulled  him  through  for  State  Secretary,  though 
he  had  to  say  that  he  would  take  what  they  chose  to 
give  him.  No  debt  was  to  be  contracted  for  his  serv- 
ices. Hundreds  have  been  converted,  so  I  think  his 
pay  will  come.  No  one  ever  reaped  very  well,  but 
what  they  were  paid  well. 

I  hand  you  a  tract  from  Hodder  which  will  remind 
you  of  old  scenes,  when  grace  abounded  and  the  seed 
is  still  sprouting  and  gets  into  print  so  that  others  may 
see  your  good  works  and  glorify  our  Father.  I  have 
been  home  for  two  weeks,  with  a  bad  headache,  and 
so  have  had  no  field  work  of  late,  but  when  I  have 
been  out,  there  was  always  some  way  offered  and 
somehow  the  Lord  filled  it  with  such  a  small  fry  as  I 


172  Early  Recollections  o]  Moody 

am  for  his  own  glory.  I  am  amazed  at  the  readiness 
of  men  and  women  to  talk  about  and  then  receive 
Christ  as  their  Savior.  Moody's  sermons  have  been 
read  by  millions,  and  the  ground  has  thus  been  well 
ploughed  and  the  spirit  has  softened,  making  all  in 
readiness  for  the  good  seed  of  the  Kingdom.  Have 
you  read  Joseph  Cook's  lectures  in  Boston?  He  has 
done  a  deal  of  grubbing,  logging  and  ploughing  for 
Moody  in  the  hardest  soil  he  has  yet  struck,  and  now 
the  fruits  begin  to  appear,  though  long  delayed,  yet 
with  patience  he  has  waited  also  for  the  early  and  the 
later  rain,  and  has  not  been  disappointed.  God  uses 

His  own  word  and  not and etc.,  who 

have  so  much  of  themselves  to  exhibit  that  Christ  can 
scarcely  get  into  their  farm  yards,  as  he  did  into  the 
stable  at  Bethlehem. 

Much  love  to  you  and  yours, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

May  8th,  1877. 

Dear  Moody:  What  did  you  do  at  the  Trustees' 
meeting?  I  am  a  little  anxious  to  know  what  posi- 
tion Dodge  and  Stuart  took  as  to  your  way  of  dis- 
bursing the  funds.  I  thought  Dodge's  letters  indi- 
cated that  the  trustees  should  do  the  disbursing. 

Harvey  is  anxious  to  stop  interest,  and  has  got  most 
of  the  subscribers'who  were  to  have  two  years  to  pay  in 
to  pay  up,  if  he  can  pay  the  mortgages.  He  says  you 
agreed  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  loans  last  year  in  addi- 
tion to  the  $20,000.  If  you  do  this,  they  can  pay  up  very 
soon,  and  I  am  sure  you  will  shout  as  well  as  some 
others,  when  this  mother  of  Evangelists  is  out  of  debt. 
The  work  now  being  done  by  Dean  and  Morton  more 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  1 73 

than  pays  for  all  the  Hall  has  cost.    They  are  full  to 
overflowing. 

The  improvements  in  the  Hall,  taking  away  parti- 
tion under  the  gallery,  and  whitewashing  sides,  make 
a  new  room  of  it.  I  wish  you  could  come  out  by  and 
by  and  stay  a  few  weeks,  and  have  a  Jubilee  with  us 
in  the  Tabernacle  when  the  debt  is  all  paid.  Won't 
you  come  and  sing  a  solo  on  that  occasion? 

Perhaps  Harvey  wrote  you  that  I  am  to  sing  a  solo 
at  the  Stebbins  concert,  to  begin  one  hour  before  the 
doors  are  opened,  so  that  the  tones  would  die  out 
about  the  time  the  people  came  in. 

At  such  a  Jubilee  I  think  I  could  sing  in  the  highest 
key,  with  or  without  an  audience.  Harvey  asked  me 
to  write  you  on  this  subject,  as  he  did  not  wish  to  bore 
you  any  more,  but  he  wished  awfully  to  see  the  debt 
paid.  I  thank  the  Lord  for  Harvey,  every  time  I 
think  of  him,  for  I  am  sure  he  was  put  in  his  position 
by  no  less  an  agency  than  Him  who  saw  the  needs  of 
the  hour  and  had  him  ready  to  fill  the  gap.  Union 
work  and  Lay  Preaching  have  taken  root  too  deeply 
now  to  be  rooted  out  by  sectarian  swine,  however  long 
their  snouts.  "Wise  as  doves  and  harmless  as 
serpents,"  they  cannot  do  better  than  drown  them- 
selves, as  they  did  in  olden  times,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
living  Christianity  that  is  known  by  its  fruits.  One 
of  our  ministers  refused  to  have  his  congregation  pay 
anything  towards  the  expenses,  because  they  were 
not  represented  on  the  devotional  committee.  He 
wanted  to  be  chairman.  We  don't  want  their  money 
any  more  than  they  need  the  Spirit  of  the  Master. 
You  can  guess  who  it  is,  poor  man. 
Love  to  you  and  yours,  JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 


1 74  Early  Recollections  o]  Moody 

June  nth,  1877. 

Dear  Moody:  How  good  the  Lord  is  to  his  halting 
disciples  in  teaching  them  the  lesson  of  trust.  The 
day  before  the  New  Hamburg  disaster  I  opened  to 
the  Qist  Psalm,  in  family  devotion  with  friends  in 
Hartford,  and  it  was  very  sweet  to  us  then;  but  two 
hours  after,  when  twenty-four  of  my  fellow  travelers 
went  down  to  death  in  a  moment,  leaving  me  and  my 
wife  within  six  feet  of  the  gulf  of  death,  unharmed,  I 
knew  that  the  Master  was  teaching  a  child  to  walk.  The 
same  evening  that  I  left  for  Louisville,  Harvey  and  I 
and  one  more  were  invited  to  Blatchford's  to  tea, 
after  which  at  family  devotions  he  read  the  gist  Psalm. 
I  could  not  restrain  the  tears  as  he  read  the  inspiring 
truth  how  necessary  for  a  poor  wayfaring  man  to  get 
into  God's  chariot  of  trust.  Friday  night  at  9  p.  m., 
in  the  midst  of  our  session,  a  telegram  was  received, 
"Come  home,  Frank  is  very  ill.  Mrs.  J.  V.  Farwell." 
The  doctor  had  said  to  C.  B.  that  if  I  saw  him  alive 
I  must  be  telegraphed  for.  I  did  not  know  that  the 
danger  was  so  imminent.  In  bidding  good  bye  to  the 
Convention,  I  read  the  above  message  to  the  meeting, 
and  asked  them  all  to  pray  for  my  boy.  A  southern 
brother  led  in  a  most  touching  prayer,  and  on  my  ar- 
rival home  he  was  out  of  danger.  Praise  the  Lord! 
Afterwards  some  200  parents,  who  had  unconverted 
children,  rose  for  prayers  for  themselves  and  their 
children.  I  saw  why  that  Psalm  was  read  then,  I 
knew  that  my  boy  was  on  the  borders  of  the  grave. 
That  very  hour  almost,  he  began  to  mend,  and  when 
I  got  home  on  Saturday  night,  he  was  sleeping  sweetly 
and  slept  all  night,  and  on  Monday  sat  up  all  day. 
It  is  distressing  to  me,  that  the  Lord  is  obliged  to  give 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  175 

me  such  tokens  of  love,  either  in  the  valley  or  on  the 
mountain.  Thank  him  for  me  and  pray  for  my  poor 
soul,  that  I  may  take  in  all  His  lessons. 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 

June  nth,  1877. 
W.  E.  DODGE,  JR.,  ESQ., 

Dear  Brother:  I  have  yours  with  check  for  $300, 
and  enclose  receipt  from  the  treasurer  of  our  Taber- 
nacle Committee  who  paid  the  bills  for  which  this  was 
appropriated. 

We  had  a  successful  convention  at  Louisville.  An 
eminent  minister  who  was  in  attendance,  said  "he 
could  wish  heartily  that  the  General  Assembly  could 
show  such  a  spirit  as  actuated  our  body." 

The  only  thing  that  pained  me,  was  the  opposition 
of  the  secretaries  to  the  evangelistic  element  in  our 
work.  I  happen  to  know  that  in  our  states  of  Illinois, 
Iowa  and  Indiana,  that  but  for  this  element  our  As- 
sociations would  not  have  a  status  worth  preserving, 
and  that  with  it  they  have  come  to  the  front  so  rapidly 
that  the  General  Assembly  endorsed  them  heartily, 
and  I  know  very  many  ministers  who  were  our  ene- 
mies, but  since  Morton's  union  meetings  under  their 
observation,  have  become  firm  friends.  I  thank  God 
for  the  National  Executive  Committee,  and  for 
Weidensall.  We  need  more  such  men,  but  none  of 
the  wise  men,  whose  knowledge  on  the  subject  ex- 
tends no  further  than  loyalty  to  an  idea. 

I  am  convinced  that  Young  Men's  Christian  As- 
sociations are  to  occupy  a  very  responsible  position 
in  crystallizing  union  work,  as  well  as  energizing  it, 
and  that  this  is  the  bright  and  morning  star  in  that 


1 76  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

direction,  and  hence  I  am  deeply  anxious  that  the 
National  Committee  shall  take  the  right  ground  in 
reference  to  this  work  which  has  been  thrown  upon 
us  at  the  West  by  the  great  head  of  the  church,  and 
by  western  members  of  our  Committee,  and  yet 
strange  to  say  the  eastern  members  of  that  Committee 
took  strong  ground  against  Associations  having  any- 
thing to  do  with  it  as  such.  This  is  confidential  and 
for  no  other  eyes  as  coming  from  me.  This  is  my 
point — use  your  influence  with  Brainerd,  who  I  think 
is  the  brains  of  the  committee,  so  far  as  settling  and 
putting  it  in  action  is  concerned,  and  try  and  have 
him  so  act  as  not  to  embarrass  the  Lord  in  establish- 
ing Union  Gospel  meetings  under  our  auspices  among 
the  churches  and  the  associations. 

Yours  very  truly, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 

June  i4th,  1877. 
CEPHAS  BRAINERD,  ESQ., 

Chairman  National  Executive  Committee. 
Dear  Brother:  I  want  to  thank  you  personally  for 
the  work  your  Committee  has  done  through  Weidensall 
at  the  west.  It  has  grown  upon  me  wonderfully  the 
past  year.  In  putting  our  State  Secretary  into  the 
field,  it  was  insisted  by  some  of  the  delegates  that 
they  would  not  vote  to  put  him  into  the  field  unless 
union  evangelistic  meetings  were  made  the  main 
plank  in  the  platform,  on  the  ground  that  such  union 
work  was  absolutely  necessary  to  develop  the  real 
need  of  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  and  show 
their  practical  importance  in  aiding  church  work. 
The  results  in  Illinois  and  Iowa  have  proved  the 


Early  Recollections  oj  Moody  1 77 

wisdom  of  such  a  plank,  and  have  secured  for  the  As- 
sociation the  warm  support  of  many  pastors  who  be- 
fore such  work  was  done,  were  wholly  opposed  to  our 
organization.  Thousands  of  conversions,  churches 
revived,  and  many  new  and  vigorous  associations, 
speak  with  more  eloquence  than  the  finest  theories 
which  stand  for  nothing  until  they  have  been  worked 
out.  I  trust  therefore  that  your  Committee  in  the  em- 
ployment of  agents  will  take  Weidensall  for  a  model, 
and  send  no  one  out  into  the  field  whose  soul  is  not 
burdened  for  the  conversion  of  young  men,  and  who 
are  workmen  that  need  not  be  ashamed  in  the  most 
promising  of  all  fields  of  Christian  effort.  A  success- 
ful meeting  of  that  kind  is  the  best  possible  starting 
point  for  organizing  new  associations,  as  well  as  in 
galvanizing  into  life  and  usefulness,  those  which  have 
grown  cold  and  of  course  can  serve  no  good  purpose 
for  young  men  until  the  real  warmth  of  Christian 
fellowship  in  active  work  takes  the  place  of  dead 
formalism.  Our  associations  have  a  great  future 
before  them,  if  this  wonderful  element  of  power  in 
unifying  the  churches  is  utilized  under  your  com- 
mittee, in  the  light  of  what  has  been  done  under  my 
own  observation  in  Illinois  and  Iowa,  through  the 
wise  generalship  of  Brother  Weidensall.  The  weak 
things  confound  the  mighty,  because  they  are  led  by 
the  Captain  of  the  Lord's  hosts. 

Yours  very  truly, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 

At  a  recent  Bible  conference  at  Winona  of 
ministers,  evangelists  and  laymen,  a  resolution 
was  passed,  unanimously,  asking  Young  Men's 


178  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

Christian  Association  secretaries  to  assist  in  or- 
ganizing union  revival  meetings  same  as  in  Mr. 
Moody's  early  connection  with  the  Association, 
and  evangelists  Wharton  and  Munhall  have  had 
marked  success  since  then  on  those  lines  in 
Missouri  and  Texas.  After  the  holidays  the 
Rockford  Y.  M.  C.  A.  intends  to  organize  such 
an  effort.  These  facts  emphasize  the  great  mis- 
takes of  the  National  Committee  in  1877,  in  ig- 
noring what  had  been  so  signally  blessed  in 
England  and  America  under  Mr.  Moody's  leader- 
ship. 

June  i2th,  1877. 

Dear  Moody:  I  had  not  time  to  write  you  about 
the  convention  yesterday.  The  National  Committee 
have  set  to  work  one  of  the  best  city  agencies  in  the 
west  through  Weidensall,  and  in  the  Secretary's  Com- 
mittee opposed  evangelistic  effort  by  Associations, 
with  all  their  might — a  strange  anomaly,  and  Hall 
and  Cree  supported  them. 

Both  of  them  seem  to  have  lost  their  power,  and 
this  accounts  for  it.  They  have  been  constructing 
locomotives,  and  kept  them  in  the  roundhouse  instead 
of  starting  them  out  to  their  legitimate  work. 

Can't  you  use  your  influence  with  Brainard  (he 
controls)  to  have  this  Committee  made  right  on  this 
point?  The  work  of  Dean  and  Morton  is  simply 
grand,  and  is  the  child  of  this  Committee,  and  if  it  is 
not  a  New  York  child  they  cannot  afford  longer  to 
ignore  it.  They  were  beaten  so  badly  in  every  way, 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  179 

that  they  may  be  under  conviction  now,  but  to  convert 
them  is  to  hide  a  multitude  of  sins. 

I  have  not  attended  a  Convention  since  the  one  at 
Detroit,  and  you  know  that  the  work  of  that  Com- 
mittee has  grown  up  since  then,  and  now  it  needs  in 
that  Committee,  such  wisdom  as  will  profit  by  the 
last  years'  experience  for  the  purpose  of  organizing 
every  state  with  the  same  machinery  we  have  under 
Morton.  They  have  a  few  grand  men  at  the  South 
for  this  work,  and  I  am  sure  the  Lord  will  send  them 
as  soon  as  the  way  is  open  for  them. 

I  look  upon  you  as  the  Bishop  of  the  union  mission 
work,  and  believe  that  a  word  from  you  will  go  a  great 
way  with  Brainard. 

Yours  very  truly, 

J.  V.  FARWELL. 

June  1 4th,  1877. 
REV.  GEO.  E.  THRALL, 

Dear  Brother:  I  have  read  your  "Need  of  Union," 
and  shown  it  to  others.  It  is  a  very  compact  and 
scriptural  argument  to  sustain  its  title.  It  ought  to 
have  a  large  circulation,  though  I  am  very  sorry  to 
say  that  the  encouragements  to  buying  it,  are  about 
the  same  as  one  has  to  buy  his  own  coffin,  among 
those  who  are  most  in  need  of  its  teachings. 

The  secrets  of  power  are  not  alone  confined  to  the 
state,  and  our  Kingdom,  you  know,  has  only  place 
for  one  King,  and  the  sects  assume  too  much  of  the 
spirit  of  this  world,  to  wait  for  the  crowning  time,  at 
the  hands  of  the  great  King,  when  we  shall  all  be 
kings  and  priests,  etc.,  and  so  put  on  their  own  self- 
made  crowns,  and  thus  apparently  divide  the  Lord's 


180  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

Kingdom  into  feuds,  almost  as  bad  as  old  England 
ever  saw,  until  the  one  crown  and  castle  dismantled 
all  others.  Yours  very  truly, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 

June  22nd,  1877. 

Dear  Moody:  I  send  you  a  call  for  you  from 
Macedonia,  characteristic  of  Kentucky,  and  you  had 
better  have  your  wife  answer  it.  It  may  help  to  keep 
the  southern  door  wide  open.  Dean  writes  me  that 
you  must  come  to  Clear  Lake,  Iowa,  August  25th  to 
2 Qth — Convention  of  Christian  workers  from  the 
Northwest,  with  one  day  for  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Work.  It 
will  be  a  very  pleasant  retreat  for  a  week,  and  if  you 
can  come  here  September  first,  you  can  probably  do 
it.  I  am  going  West  and  expect  to  be  there  on  my 
return.  I  cannot  go  to  the  dedication  of  the  Bliss 
monument  on  the  pth,  as  requested  by  Whittle.  I 
would  be  glad  to  do  so,  but  it  is  a  long  hot  journey  and 
there  will  not  be  any  real  need  of  my  being  there.  I 
bear  my  memorial  in  my  heart,  and  expect  to  as 
"long  as  I  live,  and  then  to  join  the  chorus  of  the 
new  song  with  him  in  heaven." 

All  but  $10,000  of  the  mortgage  is  paid,  and  good 
subscriptions  to  meet  that  and  a  little  to  spare.  I 
suppose  you  will  come  and  use  the  Tabernacle  thirty 
days  this  fall.  Love  to  all. 

Yours  very  truly, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 

June  28th,  1877. 

Dear  Brother  Whittle:  I  find  it  impossible  for  me 
to  be  at  the  dedication  of  the  Bliss  monument.  I 


Early  Recollections  oj  Moody  181 

find,  however,  that  he  had  quietly  built  for  himself 
a  monument  in  my  memory  of  the  sweet  influences 
of  gospel  song  that  will  be  found  in  a  fairer  clime  than 
this,  long  after  that  marble  shaft  at  Rome  shall  have 
been  mouldered  away  by  the  tooth  of  time,  just  the 
prelude  to  the  "new  song"  that  we  shall  sing  to- 
gether when  all  earthly  songs  of  hope  shall  be  changed 
to  fruition.  May  the  hallowed  influences  of  his  life 
be  felt  in  the  occasion  of  your  gathering  to  dedicate 
the  marble  shaft  to  his  memory,  by  multitudes,  as  I 
have  felt  them. 

Yours  very  truly, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 

February  2oth,  1878. 

Dear  Moody:  My  impression  is  that  two  or  three 
weeks  in  April  in  the  Tabernacle,  would  be  time  as 
well  put  in  as  any  work  you  ever  did.  These  hard 
times  are  a  John  the  Baptist  to  prepare  the  way  for 
the  gospel  in  thousands  of  hearts,  and  then  there  are 
a  great  many  converts  from  your  work  that  are  still 
outside  the  church  who  need  to  be  housed.  I  have 
knowledge  of  two  cases,  one  joined  your  church  a  few 
weeks  ago  and  the  other  will  do  so  in  March.  He  is  a 
young  man  who  has  been  holding  gospel  temperance 
meetings  for  nearly  a  year  with  great  success — Martin 
Luther-Hallenbeck  is  his  name,  a  very  tall  young  man 
from  Brooklyn  and  a  drunkard  when  he  was  con- 
verted. He  had  been  writing  me  at  different  times  ever 
since  he  left  here,  to  come  soon  and  help  him,  but 
I  never  could  go  until  two  weeks  ago  last  Sunday,  at 
South  Bend,  where  Rev.  N.  D.  Williamson  is  located. 
He  had  led  in  union  meetings  with  four  churches  for 


1 82  Early  Recollections  o)  Moody 

three  weeks  with  crowded  houses  all  the  time,  and 
with  some  very  marked  cases  of  conversion. 

This  seed  of  the  Word  is  returning  you  the  hundred 
fold.  A  noted  gambler  and  a  very  able  man,  was 
converted  under  his  preaching  and  was  holding  meet- 
ings in  Toledo,  when  I  was  at  South  Bend.  So  it 
goes,  the  "Publicans  and  Harlots"  are  finding  their 
way  to  the  feast,  while  the  " Scribes  and  Pharisees" 
are  making  excuses  and  feeding  on  dead  men's  bones. 
They  even  take  up  the  trailing  standard  of  the  Cross 
and  bear  it  aloft  to  victory  with  ministers  to  follow 
their  lead  as  standard  bearers.  Marvelous  in  our 
eyes  are  the  wonderful  works  of  God  in  such  scenes  as 
these,  in  these  last  days. 

The  South  Bend  meetings  are  the  first  I  have  at- 
tended since  I  was  sick.  I  stayed  with  Studebaker, 
the  great  wagon  man  of  the  West,  the  only  one  of  a 
large  family  not  a  Christian,  who  promised  to  study 
the  Word  and  decide  for  himself  this  great  ques- 
tion. 

Pray  for  him.  He  has  a  thousand  men  in  his  employ, 
has  agents  from  Texas  to  Minnesota  and  from  Indiana 
to  California. 

Love  to  Mrs.  Moody  and  the  children.    Write  me 
if  you  will  come,  and  I  will  not  let  the  Tabernacle 
for  anything  until  you  get  through. 
Yours  very  truly, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 

March  6th,  1878. 

Dear  Moody:  I  hear  a  good  many  loud  wishes  for 
you  to  come  here  for  two  or  six  weeks  as  you  can  ar- 
range it,  for  last  of  April  or  first  of  May,  and  yet  your 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  183 

ominous  silence,  don't  seem  to  inspire  vigorous  hopes 
in  that  direction. 

Your  going  back  to  Boston,  seems  to  indicate  a 
sort  of  glimmer  of  light  in  that  direction,  and  so  I 
write  again,  like  the  importunate  widow,  for  a  few 
crumbs  of  comfort,  if  you  cannot  send  a  full  loaf,  as 
large  as  the  darky  preacher's  loaf,  who  expounded  the 
miracle  of  feeding  the  multitude  on  the  mountain  side, 
by  telling  his  hearers  that  the  mountain  was  made  of 
bread,  though  I  am  quite  sure  you  would  be  glad  to 
bring  your  five  loaves  and  a  few  little  fishes,  magnified 
under  the  Master's  hand,  to  our  still  famishing  multi- 
tudes. The  fact  is,  you  are  made  of  bread,  such  as  our 
people  like  to  be  filled  with,  as  well  as  Boston  folks, 
and  if  you  can  go  again  to  them,  why  not  to  your  first 
love,  though  I  am  aware  that  we  don't  deserve  it. 
You  know  the  Master  went  to  the  publicans  and 
sinners,  and  if  we  are  any  worse,  so  much  the  more 
reason  for  your  coming. 

The  Association  needs  another  wing  in  the  manage- 
ment and  another  oar  to  move  well,  in  the  line  of 
spiritual  work.  I  am  afraid  they  will  get  tired  raising 
money  and  paying  bills,  unless  they  are  repaid  in 
riches  that  perish  not.  Harvey  is  growing  in  the 
knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ  by  word  and  work,  but  I 
don't  know  much  about  the  rest.  A  short  campaign 
here  is  very  much  needed  I  know,  and  if  you  will  bring 
your  family  out  for  May  before  you  go  to  Northfield 
I  am  sure  it  will  do  them  good  while  you  can  build  us 
all  up  in  the  faith  in  the  meantime.  Do  come !  Ask 
the  Master  to  let  you  help  us  poor  sinners  once  more. 
Yours  with  love  of  Jesus, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 


184  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

April  nth,  1878. 

Dear  Moody:  Lattimore  is  not  well  and  his  family 
are  not,  besides  he  has  the  care  of  all  the  gospel 
temperance  meetings  in  this  city,  and  it  is  hard  to 
leave  them.  There  were  eight  conversions  in  the  last 
meeting  in  lower  hall.  Murray  says  he  is  of  too 
much  importance  here  to  be  moved.  As  to  coming 
to  New  York  in  May,  I  will  try,  and  be  there,  if 
necessary,  but  it  don't  seem  to  me  to  be  necessary  for 
me  to  come,  when  you  have  two  of  the  three  of  your 
committee  present  to  endorse  all  you  want  done. 

I  am  rejoiced  to  know  that  the  School  of  the  Phi- 
losophers as  well  as  the  Prophets  receives  your  testi- 
mony. Yale  is  a  proud  column  to  intellectual  pride, 
but  all  such  must  come  down  before  that  pyramid  of 
truth  of  which  Christ  is  the  chief  corner-stone, — the 
beginning  and  the  end  of  all  wisdom.  I  hope  my  boy 
John  will  comprehend  his  need  of  the  Holy  Spirit  for 
service,  and  be  warmed  up  to  do  all  he  can,  beginning 
in  the  strength  of  his  manhood  to  consecrate  his 
powers  to  the  Master.  When  ten  years  old,  he  said 
he  wanted  to  be  a  minister.  Whether  he  can  do  more 
in  the  pulpit  or  in  the  pew  is  the  question  for  the 
Spirit  to  impress  upon  his  mind.  If  it  comes  in  your 
way  to  give  him  a  word  of  counsel  I  shall  be  greatly 
obliged. 

I  wish  you  could  come  and  stay  with  me  at  Lake 
Forest  for  a  month  with  your  family.  I  would  do  my 
best  to  hide  you  from  all  intruders. 

I  want  to  see  you  ever  so  much,  and  I  don't  know 
but  I  need  your  prayers  and  counsel  more  than 
ever. 

Mrs.  Farwell  enjoyed  her  visit  ever  so  much — says 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  185 

she  has  much  to  tell  me  about  your  work  when  she 
comes  home.  Yours  for  the  truth, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 
P.  S.  Kind  regards  to  Sankey  and  both  families. 

Mr.  Lattimore  referred  to  in  the  foregoing 
letter  was  the  lawyer  converted  in  the  Tabernacle, 
from  the  drunkard's  experiences,  to  be  a  messen- 
ger of  the  King  to  his  companions  in  drunkenness. 

June  isth,  1878. 
R.  R.  MCBURNEY,  ESQ., 

Dear  Sir:  I  was  glad  to  see  your  resolutions  in  aid 
of  the  churches  to  rightly  understand  the  genius  of 
Young  Men's  Christian  Associations,  but  was  grieved 
that  there  should  be  any  necessity  for  such  declara- 
tions of  our  platform  in  the  face  of  the  history  that 
should  make  all  the  churches  proud  of  this  strong 
arm  in  her  service.  As  some  theological  graduates 
are  not  very  good  ministers,  so  some  church  members 
are  not  very  good  representatives  of  union  work,  and 
when  these  two  elements  meet  we  must  expect  that 
the  church  will  be  disgraced  from  both  sides,  as  may 
have  been  the  case  when  these  questions  arose,  which 
gave  birth  to  your  resolutions.  I  have  done  very 
little  since  our  Convention  at  Louisville,  but  have 
kept  my  eye  on  some  of  the  workers,  and  hope  to  join 
in  the  battle  more  actively  in  the  year  to  come,  now 
that  my  health  is  returned.  God  bless  the  New  York 
brethren  who  have  done  so  nobly  in  keeping  the  Na- 
tional banner  out  of  the  dust. 

Yours  very  truly, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 


1 86  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

BALTIMORE,  January  3rd,  1879. 

My  dear  Mr.  Farwell:  Can  you  not  come  East 
this  spring  sometime?  I  want  to  get  the  Hymn  Book 
Committee  all  together  this  spring.  I  have  some  im- 
portant things  to  talk  to  the  Trustees  about  and  would 
like  much  to  see  you  all  together.  You  speak  about 
the  No.  3  hymn  book.  I  think  one  of  the  mistakes 
of  the  churches  is  in  not  introducing  new  hymns.  You 
do  not  know  how  we  have  stirred  this  city  with  new 
songs.  They  add  new  life. 

I  have  had  the  largest  church  in  this  city  full  of  men 
at  4  o'clock  every  day  for  three  weeks,  and  I  think 
it  the  best  work  I  have  seen  for  years. 

I  do  like  to  preach  to  men  and  the  work  here  is 
good  and  encouraging. 

Keep  me  posted  about  the  Lord's  work  in  Chicago. 

Your  brother, 
D.  L.  MOODY. 

After  Mr.  Moody's  death,  Major  Cole  wrote 
me,  to  which  I  replied  as  follows: 

CHICAGO,  January  i2th,  1900. 

My  dear  Major  Cole:  I  have  your  touching  letter 
as  to  Mr.  Moody's  departure,  and  as  to  how  memory 
took  you  back  to  mission  days  in  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and 
in  the  country  towns,  and  then  on  the  ocean  on  our 
journey  to  meet  Mr.  Moody  in  London. 

I  happened  to  be  reading  over  some  letters  written 
about  that  time  to  Mr.  Moody,  yesterday,  and  in  one 
dated  February  25,  1875,  *  wrote  him  as  follows: 

1  'I  realize  that  you  are  surrounded  with  so  great  a 
crowd  of  witnesses,  astonished  alike  with  your  rapid 


Early  Recollections  oj  Moody  187 

pace  as  well  as  their  flagging  gait,  in  contending  for 
the  mastery  of  the  world,  and  the  God  of  it,  that  I 
think  you  should  just  send  off  Moody's  epistle  to  John, 
as  often  as  possible,  with  the  hope  that  with  true  riches 
of  grace  in  Christ  he  might  at  least  walk  humbly,  if 
he  does  not  run  well  and  grandly  like  some  of  your 
spiritual  children,  and  this  brings  me  to  one  of  them 
of  whom  you  will  be  glad  to  hear,  and  so  I  will  drop 
'John'  and  take  up  'James.' — H.  Cole — real  an- 
thracite coal,  thoroughly  on  fire — red  hot." 

Then  I  went  on  and  mentioned  your  work  at 
Baraboo,  Moline  and  Rock  Island,  where  about  six 
hundred  were  converted,  and  then  concluded  "James" 
as  follows: 

"I  mentioned  these  things  to  show  how  you  were 
led  in  placing  Major  Cole  under  your  mantle  when 
you  left  for  Europe.  He  is  a  star  of  the  first  magni- 
tude in  faith  and  purpose,  and  if  I  mistake  not,  he  will 
yet  be  as  a  teacher  of  the  Word.  He  is  quick  and  to 
the  point  and  practical  to  make  use  of  it,  and  illus- 
trates well." 

I  would  not  give  you  this  commentary  on  "James" 
if  I  had  the  least  idea  that  it  would  make  you  spiritually 
proud.  I  only  give  you  this  quotation,  as  the  facts 
were  photographed  upon  my  mind  especially  at 
Baraboo,  as  one  of  your  co-laborers.  What  we  saw 
afterwards  in  London,  in  your  theater  work,  prepara- 
tory to  Mr.  Moody's  Tabernacle  meetings,  at  which 
Mr.  Moody's  chairman  was  always  present,  continues 
to  be  a  most  precious  memory  to  me.  It  was  about 
that  time  I  think  that  you  made  that  wonderful  ex- 
clamation, "Oh,  for  a  hundred  thousand  souls  for 
my  Master,"  and  I  am  quite  sure  that  many  more 


1 88  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

than  that  number  are  even  now  gathered  in  your  army 
of  recruits,  since  Moody's  mantle  fell  on  you  for  work 
in  this  country,  when  he  went  to  England.  It  does 
seem  as  though  Moody  walked  up  and  down  this 
earth,  as  an  inspiration  for  scores  like  yourself,  and 
to  thousands  like  your  humble  servant,  willing  and 
glad  to  be  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water  as 
one  of  his  co-laborers  with  the  Master. 

You  will  now  remember,  as  our  Major  General 
(humanly  speaking)  among  men  has  passed  over, 
there  are  great  responsibilities  resting  upon  us,  and 
especially  upon  you,  as  an  evangelist  that  followed 
him  in  England  and  here,  incessantly,  up  to  the  present 
time. 

May  the  great  Master  of  the  Vineyard  give  you 
wisdom  in  your  decisions,  so  that  as  you  say,  "the 
supreme  luxury  of  wearing  your  body  out  in  the  king- 
dom of  our  Lord,"  may  be  your  blessed  experience. 
Yours  very  truly, 

JOHN  V.  FARWELL. 

Major  Cole  for  about  three  years  followed  Mr. 
Moody's  work  in  England  and  there  were  ten 
thousand  to  hear  him  at  his  last  meeting  in 
Liverpool,  and  about  one  thousand  remained  for 
a  second  meeting.  From  that  day  to  this  he  has 
given  himself  to  this  work  in  the  United  States. 


CONCLUSION 

A  consensus  of  the  opinion  of  men  who  knew 
him  best,  as  to  Mr.  Moody's  character  and  re- 
sults of  his  Christian  work  on  present  and  future 
generations,  cannot  fail  to  award  to  him  the  first 
place,  when  history,  past,  present  and  future, 
shall  have  completed  the  testimony. 

In  the  light  of  his  early  environment  and  ad- 
vantages, such  a  nick  in  religious  history  reminds 
us  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  in  political  history,  in  its 
results,  in  making  the  United  States  in  less  than 
half  a  century  the  coming  arbiter  of  the  world's 
destiny.  Trust  in,  and  efforts  for,  the  common 
people  in  their  special  lines  of  work,  constituted 
the  basis  of  their  wonderful  influence  and  power 
over  all  men.  Scores  of  other  men  with  superior 
advantages  and  positions  in  the  body  politic,  with 
a  like  devotion  to  the  same  interests,  might  have 
left  these  two  men  with  their  serious  handicap 
far  behind,  unless  perchance  it  is  foreordained 
that  men  from  the  common  people,  by  their  as- 
sociation with  the  great  majority,  must  always 
take  first  places  in  the  history  of  the  race,  when 
they  rise  above  their  environment,  and  by  sheer 
force  of  honest  character  devoted  to  the  public 
good  take  their  places  as  makers  of  history. 
These  two  men  were  pre-eminently  in  this  list; 
189 


190  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

and  men  like  myself  and  others,  who  knew  them 
both,  ought  to  be  much  better  Christian  citizens 
than  we  are,  because  of  our  contact  with  them. 

Yesterday  I  saw  a  pupil  of  the  Northfield 
schools,  who  at  the  funeral  saw  the  bright  light 
of  the  sun  rest  only  on  Mr.  Moody's  kindly  face, 
— his  work  well  done — through  an  aperture  in 
the  window  shutter  made  by  a  timely  gust  of 
wind.  This  incident  may  well  remind  us  how  a 
muddy,  stagnant  pool  of  water  is  transformed 
by  the  sunlight  and  heat,  making  it  in  due  time  a 
flower  garden,  and  at  the  same  time,  by  its  magic 
chemistry  in  art,  give  us  God's  rainbow  of  promise, 
through  the  gentle  rain,  sent  to  make  the  flower 
garden  and  the  plowed  fields  bring  forth  flowers 
and  bread  for  the  wants  of  man. 

It  is  only  when  such  physical  influences  come 
to  fruitage,  that  dull  man  sees  God's  mighty  hand 
making  the  base  things  of  this  world  into  rain- 
bows, flowers  and  bread,  for  his  various  wants. 

And  so  it  is,  when  God  transforms  a  human 
body,  soul  and  spirit,  from  its  earthly  lusts  and 
passions,  into  the  image  of  Jesus  Christ  in  beauty 
and  power,  to  do  good  and  not  evil  to  men,  that 
they  begin  to  see  that  here  and  now,  miracles 
greater  than  raising  Lazarus  call  us  to  faith  in, 
and  service  for,  the  Christ  of  God  who  is  the  light 
and  heat  in  the  spiritual,  as  the  sun  in  the  heavens 
is  of  the  natural,  world. 

Thus  it  is  that  being   dead — physically — such 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  191 

men  then  only  begin  their  real  life  in  their  blessed 
example  in  making  this  world  a  fit  residence  for 
men,  created  in  the  image  of  God,  to  live  in. 

From  Caesar's  time  to  the  present,  what  a 
wonderful  change  history  records!  The  last 
century  of  that  time  has  seen  more  physical,  mental 
and  spiritual  progress  towards  making  the  brother- 
hood of  man  a  reality,  than  all  the  long  ages  that 
preceded  it.  To  Christ,  and  to  such  men  as  He 
has  thus  transformed  for  such  service  on  earth, 
belong  all  the  glory  of  this  change. 

If  this  be  so,  which  cannot  be  denied,  then  we 
do  well  to  make  the  time  of  the  departure  of  such 
men  from  the  battle  which  Christ  began  in  the 
wilderness  with  the  destroyer  of  Eden's  bliss, 
with  monumental  memorials  for  future  genera- 
tions to  look  upon,  and  be  induced  thereby  to  con- 
tinue their  work,  until  "the  new  heavens  and 
the  new  earth"  shall  proclaim  the  rainbow  of  the 
promise  of  God  fulfilled,  and  the  curse  of  dis- 
obedience no  more  visible,  in  the  complete  victory 
which  men  have  made  possible,  as  the  soldiers  of 
the  Cross  against  the  host  of  Satan. 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS 

(Address  of  J.  V.  Farwell,  December  soth,   1899,  at  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  Moody  Memorial,  in  Chicago.) 

Any  man  mighty  in  the  Scriptures  is  a  mighty 
man.  Moody  was  essentially  one  of  them.  Dur- 
ing his  great  mission  in  London,  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  invite  to  some  friend's  drawing  room,  ten 
or  a  dozen  eminent  ministers,  and  ask  them  ques- 
tions to  enlarge  his  own  knowledge  of  the  Word 
of  God.  I  heard  him  say  at  one  such  gathering, 
"I  have  never  been  through  a  college  or  a  theo- 
logical seminary,  and  I  have  invited  you  here  to 
get  all  the  valuable  teaching  I  can  out  of  you  to 
use  in  my  work."  This  was  Mr.  Moody's  Bible 
Institute  for  his  own  instruction.  How  well  he 
and  they  profited  by  it  his  work  testifies. 

I  am  now  going  to  read  such  passages  of 
Scripture  as  I  think  would  meet  Mr.  Moody's 
approval. 

The  first  passage  is  from  Luke  4: 14-22,  im- 
mediately after  the  Savior's  use  of  the  Scriptures 
to  foil  Satan's  temptations,  as  the  immediate  pre- 
lude to  his  own  personal  ministry,  which  began 
as  follows : 

"And  Jesus  returned  in  the  power  of  the  Spirit 
into  Galilee,  and  there  went  out  a  fame  of  him 
through  all  the  region  round  about. 

"And  he  taught  in  their  synagogues,  being  glori- 
fied of  all. 

192 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  193 

"And  he  came  to  Nazareth,  where  he  had  been 
brought  up,  and  as  his  custom  was,  he  went  into 
the  synagogue  on  the  sabbath  day  and  stood  up 
for  to  read. 

"And  there  was  delivered  unto  him  the  book  of 
the  prophet  Esaias, 

"And  when  he  had  opened  the  book  he  found 
the  place  where  it  was  written, 

"The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  because  he 
has  anointed  me  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  poor, 
He  hath  sent  me  to  heal  the  broken  hearted,  to 
preach  deliverance  to  the  captives,  and  recovering 
of  sight  to  the  blind,  to  set  at  liberty  them  that  are 
bruised,  to  preach  the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord. 

"And  he  began  to  say  unto  them,  This  day  is  this 
scripture  fulfilled  in  your  ears,  and  all  bear  him 
witness,  and  wondered  at  the  gracious  word  that 
proceeded  out  of  his  mouth. 

"And  they  said,  Is  not  this  Joseph's  son?" 

Mr.  Moody  began  his  work  in  York,  England, 
with  "The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  be- 
cause he  hath  anointed  me  to  preach  the  gospel 
to  the  poor." 

This  Scripture  was  read  by  our  Master  to  his 
own  people,  who  then  led  him  to  the  brow  of  the 
hill  to  cast  him  down  headlong. 

The  next  passage  I  read  is  from  John  5 139. 

"Search  the  scriptures,  for  in  them  ye  think 
ye  have  eternal  life,  and  they  are  they  which 
testify  of  me." 


194  Early  Recollections  oj  Moody 

This  Scripture  was  spoken  to  the  Pharisees 
who  afterwards  went  about  to  kill  Him. 

After  His  resurrection,  He  appeared  to  two  of 
His  disciples  who  also  could  not  understand,  and, 
therefore,  could  not  believe  His  words  and,  there- 
fore, in  Luke  24,  we  read, — verse  32,  after  they 
knew  Him : 

"And  they  said  one  to  another,  Did  not  our 
heart  burn  within  us,  while  he  talked  with  us  by 
the  way,  and  while  he  opened  to  us  the  scrip- 
tures?" 

They  then  hurried  back  to  Jerusalem  to  meet 
all  the  disciples  and  in  verses  44  and  49  we  read : 

"And  he  said  unto  them,  These  are  the  words 
which  I  spake  unto  you  while  I  was  yet  with  you, 
that  all  things  must  be  fulfilled  which  were  writ- 
ten in  the  laws  of  Moses,  in  the  prophets  and  in 
the  psalms  concerning  me. 

"Then  opened  he  their  understandings,  that 
they  might  understand  the  scriptures,  and  said 
unto  them,  Thus  it  is  written,  and  thus  it  be- 
hooved Christ  to  suffer  and  to  rise  from  the  dead 
the  third  day. 

"And  that  repentance  and  remission  of  sins 
should  be  preached  in  his  name  among  all  na- 
tions, beginning  at  Jerusalem. 

"And  ye  are  witnesses  of  these  things. 

"And,  behold,  I  send  the  promise  of  my  Father 
upon  you,  but  tarry  ye  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem, 
until  ye  be  endued  with  power  from  on  high." 


Early  Recollections  of  Moody  195 

This  they  did,  until  the  fulfillment  of  the  promise 
on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  and  then  Peter  preached 
his  first  sermon  to  the  Jews  in  quotations  from 
the  Scriptures  concerning  Jesus  Christ,  and  the 
record  reads  from  verses  37  to  39,  of  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles : 

"Now  when  they  heard  this,  they  were  pricked 
in  their  hearts,  and  said  unto  Peter  and  to  the  rest 
of  the  apostles,  Men  and  brethren  what  shall  we 
do? 

"Then  Peter  said  unto  them,  Repent,  and  be 
baptized  every  one  of  you  in  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ  for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  ye  shall  re- 
ceive the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  for  the  promise 
is  to  you  and  to  your  children  and  to  all  that  are 
afar  off,  even  as  many  as  the  Lord  our  God  shall 
call." 

This  is  the  ministry  that  Mr.  Moody  rep- 
resented, filled  with  the  essence  and  spirit  of  the 
Scriptures,  as  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  his  work  on 
earth. 

St.  John  in  Patmos  was  given  the  great  honor 
of  receiving  from  the  Angel  sent  by  Jesus  him- 
self, the  conclusion  of  the  Scriptures,  and  from 
Rev.  19 : 9, 10,  we  read  what  the  Angel  said  to  him : 

"And  he  saith  unto  me,  Write,  Blessed  are 
they  which  are  called  unto  the  marriage  supper 
of  the  Lamb.  And  he  saith  unto  me,  These  are  the 
true  sayings  of  God. 

"And  I  fell  at  his  feet  to  worship  him.     And  he 


196  Early  Recollections  of  Moody 

said  unto  me,  See  thou  do  it  not,  I  am  thy  fellow- 
servant,  and  of  thy  brethren  that  have  the  testi- 
mony of  Jesus;  worship  God;  for  the  testimony 
of  Jesus  is  the  spirit  of  prophecy." 

Here  we  find  the  true  spirit  of  preaching  de- 
clared to  be  the  testimony  of  Jesus,  and  it  has 
been  fully  exemplified  as  such,  by  Peter  and  Paul 
at  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  Dispensation, 
and  in  our  day  by  Mr.  D.  L.  Moody  and  others. 

Now,  let  me  add  in  conclusion :  If  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  stands  for  any  one 
thing  more  than  another,  it  is  for  a  faithful  study 
of  the  Scriptures,  and  then  a  faithful  exemplifying 
of  its  teaching.  May  it  still  give  us  many  more 
men  like  Mr.  Moody,  mighty  in  the  Scriptures, 
turning  the  world  upside  down,  that  it  may  be 
right  side  up. 

It  was  a  sad  duty  for  me  to  stand  on  that  plat- 
form, practically  the  creation  of  Mr.  Moody's 
faith  in  God,  and  realize  that  the  man,  who  under 
God  was  more  to  me  than  any  other  man  that  ever 
crossed  my  path,  had  gone  out  of  the  world  forever, 
while  so  many,  seemingly  useless  in  comparison, 
were  left  behind.  The  only  real  refuge  in  such 
catastrophies  is — Men  die,  but  God  lives  to  per- 
petuate and  complete  the  work  of  redemption  for 
all  men,  through  other  men,  who  like  Moody,  can 
and  will,  consecrate  their  all  to  His  service  in  that 
work. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


EARLY  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  DWIGHT  L.  MOODY 


